Bernard: self-will the heavier burden

Saturday, October 12, 2013
    Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709
    Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845
Meditation:
The fear of the LORD is pure,
    enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
    and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the comb.
    —Psalm 19:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The eternal law of righteousness ordains that he who will not submit to God’s sweet rule shall suffer the bitter tyranny of self: but he who wears the easy yoke and light burden of love will escape the intolerable weight of his own self-will.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), On Loving God, CCEL, ch. 13 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:9-10; 119:103-104; Pr. 3:11-17; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 11:28-30; 23:4; Acts 15:10; Rom. 2:8; 6:2-4,11; Gal. 2:19-20; 5:1; 1 John 5:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to surrender my concerns for self. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kurosaki: committed to Jesus alone

Friday, October 11, 2013
    Commemoration of Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
Meditation:
    And [the Son] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
    —Colossians 1:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Even the Bible itself is interpreted and understood in various ways and often becomes the cause of sectarianism. In the same way, dogmas and creeds cannot bring Christian unity, because human minds are not so uniformly created that they can unite in a single dogma or creed. Even our understanding of Christ Himself cannot be the basis of unity, because He is too big to be understood fully by any one person or group. Our limited understandings do not always coincide. One emphasizes this point about Christ, another that, and this again becomes the cause of division.
    Only as we take our fellowship with Christ as the center of Christian faith, will all Christians realize their oneness... Is not our fellowship, however varied, with the same Lord? Is not the same Savior our one Head?
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:18; John 6:63; 17:22-23; 20:28; Rom. 10:9; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; 12:13; Eph. 4:4-6; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 3:15; 1 John 4:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the true center. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kurosaki: committed, but to what?

Thursday, October 10, 2013
    Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644
Meditation:
    Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
    —2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The primary cause of these [denominational] divisions is the institutionalism and organizationalism of the churches and missions, which instead of helping the life of the believers in them, smothers or drives it out. This gradually produces mere dead institutions instead of the living Ekklesia.
    Christians who really have life in Christ cannot exist within such a corpse and usually will finally come out of it. But, sad to say, in most cases those who leave dead institutions simply set out to build another “better” institution or embrace other rituals and ceremonies, thus repeating the same error. Instead of turning to Christ Himself as their center, they again seek to find fellowship and spiritual security on the very same basis that failed. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 3:5-6; John 1:4; 4:21-24; 6:36; 17:22-23; Rom. 7:6; Gal. 3:10-12,21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people turn from death to life in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moule: convicted, but not committed

Wednesday, October 9, 2013
    Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258
    Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253
Meditation:
    The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
    —1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Rational conviction, even when it can be had, is very different from commitment... Commitment to Christ is a matter for the entire person, not for his mind alone; and intellectual conviction (if, indeed, it can be had at all without the whole person being involved) is not the whole business. But the whole business, precisely because it concerns the whole person, can never be achieved in defiance of the intellect. Reason, though not the whole, is part of personal response.
    ... C. F. D. Moule (1908-2007), The Phenomenon of the New Testament, v. I, London: SCM, 1967, p. 5-6 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:14; John 3:3-6; Acts 8:13,18-21; 17:18-21,32; Rom. 8:5-8; 11:33-36; 1 Cor. 1:25; Col. 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead my reason to acknowledge You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chadwick: amazed, but not convicted

Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Meditation:
    And they took offense at him.
    But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”
    And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
    —Matthew 13:57-58 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is the custom of unbelievers to speak as if the air of Palestine were then surcharged with belief in the supernatural, miracles were everywhere. Thus they would explain away the significance of the popular belief that our Lord wrought signs and wonders. But in so doing they set themselves a worse problem than they evade. If miracles were so very common, it would be as easy to believe that Jesus wrought them as that He worked at His father’s bench, but also it would be as inconclusive. And how then are we to explain the astonishment which all the evangelists so constantly record? On any conceivable theory, these writers shared the beliefs of that age. And so did the readers who accepted their assurance that all were amazed, and that His report “went out straightway everywhere into all the region of Galilee.” These are emphatic words, and both the author and his readers must have considered a miracle to be more surprising than m! odern critics believe they did.
    Yet we do not read that any one was converted by this miracle. All were amazed, but wonder is not self-surrender. They were content to let their excitement die out—as every violent emotion must—without any change of life, any permanent devotion to the new Teacher and His doctrine.
    ... G. A. Chadwick (1840-1923), The Gospel According to St. Mark, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:57-58; 9:32-33; 15:31; Mark 1:23-28; 6:2-6; Luke 4:33-36; John 4:48; 12:37; 1 Cor. 1:22-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people know Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Foster: offering the whole person

Monday, October 7, 2013
Meditation:
O LORD, you have searched me
    and you know me.
    —Psalm 139:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The offering of ourselves can only be the offering of our lived experience, because this alone is who we are. And who we are—not who we want to be—is the only offering we have to give. We give God therefore not just our strengths but also our weaknesses, not just our giftedness but also our brokenness. Our duplicity, our lust, our narcissism, our sloth—all are laid on the altar of sacrifice.
    ... Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, HarperCollins, 1992, p. 31 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 139:1,23; 1 Chr. 28:9; Pr. 17:3; Jer. 17:9-10; John 8:32; Rom. 8:27; 12:1; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Heb. 4:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I offer myself with all my weaknesses. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tyndale: the peril of good intent

Sunday, October 6, 2013
    Feast of William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536
Meditation:
    From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
    Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
    Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
    —Matthew 16:21-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Beware of thy good intent, good mind, good affection, or zeal, as they call it. Peter of a good mind, and of a good affection or zeal, chid Christ, Matt. 16, because that he said he must go to Jerusalem, and there be slain: but Christ called him Satan for his labour, a name that belongeth to the devil, and said, “That he perceived not godly things, but worldly.” Of a good intent, and of a fervent affection to Christ, the sons of Zebedee would have had fire to come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans, Luke 9; but Christ rebuked them, saying that they wist not of what spirit they were: that is, that they understood not how that they were altogether worldly and fleshly-minded... It is another thing then, to do of a good mind, and to do of knowledge. Labour for knowledge; that thou mayest know God’s will, and what he would have thee to do. Our mind, intent, and affection or zeal, are blind; and all that we do of them, is damned of God: and for that cause hath God made a testament between him and us, wherein is contained both what he would have us to do, and what he would have us to ask of him. See therefore that thou do nothing to please God withal, but that he commandeth; neither ask any thing of him, but that he hath promised thee.
    ... William Tyndale (1492?-1536), “Parable of the Wicked Mammon” [1527], in Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions, Cambridge: The University Press, 1848, p. 105 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:52-56; Rom. 8:5-8; 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; Phil. 3:18-19; Col. 3:2-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I seek Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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