Law: worldly pride

Saturday, February 22, 2014
Meditation:
    Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
    —Ephesians 6:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For these tempers of worldly pride, and vain glory, are not only evil when they mix with our good works, but they have the same evil nature, and make us odious to God, when they enter into the common business of our employment. If it were allowable to indulge covetous or vain passions in our worldly employments, it would then be allowable to be vain-glorious in our devotions. But as our alms and devotions are not an acceptable service, but when they proceed from a heart truly devoted to God, so our common employment cannot be reckoned a service to Him, but when it is performed with the same temper and piety of heart.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 51-52 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 6:5-9; Pr. 11:1; 16:11; 20:23; Hos. 12:7-8; Amos 8:4-6; Mic. 6:10-11; Matt. 10:41-42; Rom. 2:6-10; 1 Cor. 3:3; Eph. 4:28; Phil. 2:3; Col. 3:23-24; Heb. 11:26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may my first object be always to please You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Capon: it was very good

Friday, February 21, 2014
Meditation:
    And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
    —Genesis 1:31 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The world exists, not for what it means but for what it is. The purpose of mushrooms is to be mushrooms, wine is in order to wine: Things are precious before they are contributory. It is a false piety that walks through creation looking only for lessons which can be applied somewhere else. To be sure, God remains the greatest good; but, for all that, the world is still good in itself. Indeed, since He does not need it, its whole reason for being must lie in its own goodness; He has no use for it, only delight.
    ... Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), The Supper of the Lamb, New York: Doubleday, 1969, p. 86 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 1:31; Deut. 23:4; Job 38:4-7; Ps. 19:1-2; 104:24; Isa. 42:5; John 1:3,10; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Col. 1:15-17; 1 Tim. 4:4; Heb. 1:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me more aware of the goodness of Your creation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Neill: from faith to faith

Thursday, February 20, 2014
    Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906
Meditation:
    But these [accounts] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
    —John 20:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every book of the New Testament is written from faith to faith, by believers for the edification of other believers, or for those who are not yet believers that they may be brought to the faith. But this faith is not to be confused with mere acquiescence or intellectual assent; it involves death and life, confrontation and commitment, as almost every book in the New Testament makes plain, to a way that is inseparable from danger and suffering.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), Jesus Through Many Eyes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976, p. 194-195 (see the book)
    See also John 20:31; Luke 1:1-4; John 21:24; Rom. 1:17; 1 Cor. 4:14; 5:11; 14:37; 2 Cor. 2:9; 1 Tim. 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; 1 John 2:7-8,26; 2 John 1:5-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people are safe in Your hands, informed by Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Griffiths: confession

Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Meditation:
    Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
    —James 5:19-20 (KJV)
Quotation:
    At the earlier Methodist class meetings, members were expected every week to answer some extremely personal questions such as the following: Have you experienced any particular temptations during the past week? How did you react or respond to those temptations? Is there anything you are trying to keep secret, and if so, why? At this point the modern Christian swallows hard! We are often coated with a thick layer of reserve and modesty which covers “a multitude of sins”; usually our own. Significantly James 5:16-20, the original context of that phrase, is the passage which urges, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
    ... Michael Griffiths (b. 1928), God’s Forgetful Pilgrims, p. 79 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 5:16-20; Ps. 32:1; Pr. 10:12; 11:30; Matt. 3:5-6; 18:15-17; Acts 19:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 4:16; 1 Pet. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, build bonds of trust and honesty among Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gregory: purity of heart

Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
    —Matthew 5:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Purity of heart and simplicity are of great force with Almighty God, who is in purity most singular, and of nature most simple.
    ... St. Gregory the Great (540?-604), The Dialogues of Saint Gregory, P. L. Warner, 1911; Arx Publishing, LLC, 2010, p. 131 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:8; Ps. 51:10; Matt. 23:25-28; Rom. 16:18-19; 2 Cor. 7:1; 11:3; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 10:22; Jas. 3:17; 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a pure heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moody: called to shine

Monday, February 17, 2014
    Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977
Meditation:
    Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
    —Philippians 2:14-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God has called us to shine, just as much as Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no man or woman say that they cannot shine because they have not so much influence as some others may have. What God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably did not have much influence down in Babylon at first, but God soon gave him more because he was faithful and used what he had.
    ... Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899), “To the work! To the work!”: Exhortations to Christians, Chicago: F. H. Revell, 1884, p. 139 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 2:14-16; Pr. 4:18; Isa. 58:8; 60:1-3; Matt. 5:14-16; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16; 11:33; Rom. 13:12; Eph. 5:8-10; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me to be a candle for You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: Christ is Lord of all

Sunday, February 16, 2014
Meditation:
    But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
    —1 Corinthians 15:57 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The truth of Christ’s supremacy over all the powers in the universe is one which modern man sorely needs to learn. He is oppressed by a sense of impotence in the grasp of merciless forces which he can neither overcome nor escape. These forces may be Frankenstein monsters of man’s own creation, or they may be horrors outside his conscious control; either way, he is intimidated by the vastness of those fateful currents which threaten to sweep him on to destruction, whether he will or no. And to modern man in his frustration and despair, the full-orbed gospel of Christ, as Paul presents it to the Colossians, is the one message of hope. Christ crucified and risen is Lord of all; all the forces in the universe, well-disposed and ill-disposed, are subject to Him. To be united to Christ by faith is to throw off the thraldom of hostile powers, to enjoy perfect freedom, to gain the mastery over the dominion of evil, because Christ’s victo! ry is ours.
    ... F. F. Bruce (1910-1990/1), The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 78-79 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 15:57; Ps. 2:8; Isa. 9:6-7; Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:25-27; Eph. 1:18-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:5-6,16-18,27; 2:9-10; 3:1-3; 1 Pet. 3:21-22; Rev. 5:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted Your people the victory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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