Owen: God's unchanging kindness

Saturday, May 4, 2013
    Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
Meditation:
“I was enraged by his sinful greed;
    I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
    yet he kept on in his willful ways.
I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
    I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
    creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
    says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”
    —Isaiah 57:17-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What then? loves he his people in their sinning? Yes; his people,—not their sinning. Alters he not his love towards them? Not the purpose of his will, but the dispensations of his grace. He rebukes them, he chastens them, he hides his face from them, he smites them, he fills them with a sense of [his] indignation; but woe, woe would it be to us, should he change in his love, or take away his kindness from us!
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost [1657], in Works of John Owen, v. II, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1851, p. 31 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 57:17-19; 1 Chr. 16:34; Job 6:4; Ps. 6:6; 38:1-5; 39:11; 100:5; 136; Isa. 8:17; Mal. 3:6; Rom. 5:5; Heb. 12:7-9; Rev. 3:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your rebuke conveys Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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St. Athanasius: teaching the One Word

Friday, May 3, 2013
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
    —Luke 19:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Human and human-minded as men were, therefore, to whichever side they looked in the sensible world, they found themselves taught the truth. Were they awe-stricken by creation? They beheld it confessing Christ as Lord. Did their minds tend to regard men as gods? The uniqueness of the Savior’s works marked Him, alone of men, as Son of God. Were they drawn to evil spirits? They saw them driven out by the Lord, and learned that the Word of God alone was God and that the evil spirits were not gods at all. Were they inclined to hero-worship and the cult of the dead? Then the fact that the Savior had risen from the dead showed them how false these other deities were, and that the Word of the Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was He both born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that, eclipsing by His works all other human deeds, He might recall man from all the paths of error to know the Father. As He says Himself, “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
    ... St. Athanasius (293?-373), The Incarnation of the Word of God [4th century], St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996, XV, p. 43-44 (see the book)
    See also Luke 19:10; Matt. 9:12-13; 18:11; Luke 5:31-32; John 6:46; 14:7-9; Rom. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 4:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, because of Jesus, we seek and embrace You as the one true God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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St. Athanasius: God's solution

Thursday, May 2, 2013
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
    —Genesis 6:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What was God to do in the face of the dehumanizing of mankind—this universal hiding of the knowledge of Himself? ... So burdened were men with their wickedness that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very likeness of the Word... What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? ... Men had turned from the contemplation of God above, and were looking for Him in two opposite directions, down among created things, and things of sense. The Savior of us all, the Word of God, in His great love took to Himself a body and moved as Man among men, meeting their senses, so to speak, half-way. He became Himself an object for the senses, so that those who were seeking God in sensible things might apprehend the Father through the works which He, the Word of God, did in the body. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... St. Athanasius (293?-373), The Incarnation of the Word of God [4th century], St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996, XIII-XV, p. 40,41,43 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 6:5; 1:26-27; 3:17; Matt. 4:24; John 1:14; Rom. 1:18-23; 8:3-4; Gal. 3:16; Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 1:15; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 1:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I know You only through Your Son. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: humility

Wednesday, May 1, 2013
    Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Meditation:
    So Jesus went with them.
    He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
    When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
    —Luke 7:6-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Humility is a strange flower; it grows best in winter weather, and under storms of affliction.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Quaint Sermons of Samuel Rutherford: hitherto unpublished, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1885, p. 86 (see the book)
    See also Luke 7:6-10; Ps. 131:1-2; Matt. 8:5-8; 15:22-28; John 1:26-27; Rom. 7:18; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Phil. 2:5-8; 4:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You know my unworthiness, yet You hear my plea. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Grou: accepting faults

Tuesday, April 30, 2013
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
    —1 John 2:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Above all, beware of letting go the spirit of peace because of your faults. Humble yourself before God because of them, repent, make such reparation for them as you are able, and then do not dwell upon them any more. It is often mere pride which frets at finding itself beset by the same often renewed faults, and at its lack of spiritual progress. Do not deceive yourself into the belief that such disquiet is humility. A really humble soul accepts its faults with patience, and goes afresh on in confidence and hope.
    ... Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803), The Hidden Life of the Soul, London: Rivingtons, 1870, p. 147-148 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 2:1-2; Ps. 103:8-12; Mic. 6:8; John 3:16-17; Rom. 5:1-2; 12:16; 1 Cor. 1:27-29; 13:4; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; 10:5; Phil. 2:3; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 4:15-16; Jas. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 5:5; 1 John 1:4-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me peace in the forgiveness of my failings. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wedel: prodigals no more!

Monday, April 29, 2013
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
    I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
    —Ephesians 1:18-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prodigal sons, forgiven and reconciled with their heavenly Father—could they do other than forgive one another? A fellowship of prodigal sons came into being—the Church of Christ. Love begets love. A new power ... was let loose upon our suffering world, the power to love those who have not deserved love, the unworthy, the unlovely and unlovable, a man’s enemies, and even his torturers. Christians, in imitation of the Saviour, became, as it were, Christs to one another and to the world.
    ... Theodore O. Wedel (1892-1970), The Holy Catholic Church, Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications, 19--, p. 6 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 1:18-21; Matt. 9:10-13; 11:19; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:29-32; 7:36-38; 15:1-2; 19:1-10; John 13:34; Rom. 5:8; 12:21; 14:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to hold out Christ to others. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Colson: secure in the truth

Sunday, April 28, 2013
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
    Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
    —Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The less secure people are in their beliefs, the more strident they become. Conversely, the more confident people are of the truth, the more grace they exhibit to those who don’t agree. “Tolerance is the natural endowment of true convictions,” wrote Paul Tournier.
    ... Charles W. Colson (1931-2012), The Body, Waco: Word, 1992, p. 102 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 4:29; Ps. 71:15; Matt. 10:18-20; Luke 4:22; 21:14-15; Rom. 14:1; Col. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, secure my faith and guard my tongue, that I may give a good account of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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