Saturday, March 08, 2014

Wright: the meaning of temptation

Saturday, March 8, 2014
    Commemoration of Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
Meditation:
    Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
    —Luke 4:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian discipline of fighting temptation is not about self-hatred, or rejecting parts of our God-given humanity. It is about celebrating God’s gift of full humanity and, like someone learning a musical instrument, discovering how to tune it and play it to its best possibility. At the heart of our resistance to temptation is love and loyalty to the God who has already called us his beloved children in Christ, and who holds out before us the calling to follow him in the path which leads to the true glory. In that glory lies the true happiness, the true fulfilment, which neither world, nor flesh, nor devil can begin to imitate.
    ... N. T. Wright (b. 1948), Luke for Everyone, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 44-45 (see the book)
    See also Luke 4:1-13; Matt. 6:13; 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 11:4; 22:40,46; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Pet. 4:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I enjoying the fruits of obedience?
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Friday, March 07, 2014

Stott: introspection

Friday, March 7, 2014
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
Meditation:
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
    —Psalm 51:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We all know that too much introspection can be unhealthy, unhelpful and even damaging. But some is not only salutary, but necessary. Our Bible reading will often sober and abase us in this way. The word of God ruthlessly exposes our sin, selfishness, vanity and greed, and then challenges us to repent and to confess. One of the safest ways to do this is to take on our lips one of the penitential psalms, especially perhaps Psalm 51 (“Have mercy on me, O God”) or Psalm 130 (“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord”). It is a healthy discipline each evening to review the day briefly and call to mind our failures. Not to do so tends to make us slapdash about sin and encourages us to presume on God’s mercy, whereas to make a habit of doing so humbles and shames us, and increases our longing for greater holiness. There is nothing morbid about the confession of sins, so long as we go on to give thanks for the forgiveness of si! ns. It is fine to look inwards, so long as it leads us immediately to look outwards and upwards again.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Basic Christianity, Nottingham, U.K.: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008, third edition, p. 120-122 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51; 38:1-4; 102:12; 130; 143:1-2; Pr. 20:9; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eze. 11:19; 36:25-27; Acts 15:9; 1 Pet. 1:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Have I asked for cleansing in forgiveness?
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Thursday, March 06, 2014

Sanders: two masters?

Thursday, March 6, 2014
Meditation:
    Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
    —Romans 6:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The enthronement of Christ in the heart secures the dethronement of self, for two cannot occupy the throne at the same time.
    ... J. Oswald Sanders (1902-1992), The Pursuit of the Holy, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1972, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:16; 1 Kings 18:21; 2 Kings 17:33; Matt. 3:2; 4:10; 6:10,24; Luke 16:13; Gal. 1:10; Jas. 1:6-8; 4:4,8; 1 John 2:16-17; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I secretly want to take control from Him?
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Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Peterson: saying yes to God

Wednesday, March 5, 2014
    Ash Wednesday
Meditation:
    Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
    —Acts 2:38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The usual biblical word describing the “no” we say to the world’s lies and the yes we say to God’s truth is repentance...
    Repentance is not an emotion. It is not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision. It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking that you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbor and your world. And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth.
    ... Eugene H. Peterson (b. 1932), A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 29-30 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:38; Isa. 45:22; Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 6:19-21; Acts 20:21; 2 Cor. 5:17; 7:10; Col. 3:2; 1 Thess. 1:9-10; Heb. 12:1-2; Rev. 3:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I resisting repentance in some area of my life?
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Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Teresa: love letters

Tuesday, March 4, 2014
    Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
    —John 3:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are all pencils in the hand of a writing God, who is sending love letters to the world.
    ... Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) (1910-1997)
    See also John 3:16; Ps. 117:1-2; 136; Rom. 5:8; 8:32; 2 Cor. 3:3; 5:18-21; Tit. 3:4; 1 John 4:9-10,19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people praise You for your mercy and love.
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Monday, March 03, 2014

Lewis: knowledge of good and evil

Monday, March 3, 2014
Meditation:
    For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
    —Philippians 3:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really... Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 93 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 3:18-19; Gen. 3:22; Matt. 15:18-20; Mark 7:21-23; Rom. 14:23; 1 Thess. 5:22; Tit. 1:15-16; 2 Tim. 3:1-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me to know my sin.
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Sunday, March 02, 2014

Newman: trials accompany truth

Sunday, March 2, 2014
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
My lover spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, and come with me.
See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.”
    —Song of Solomon 2:10-12
Quotation:
    It is not God’s way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Sermons Preached on Various Occasions, London, Longmans, Green, 1898, sermon X, p. 178 (see the book)
    See also Cant. 2:10-12; Ps. 30:5; 126:5-6; John 15:21; 16:20,33; Acts 14:21-22; Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:6; 5:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word will conquer all.
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