Pink: time for the Bible

Saturday, March 22, 2014
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”
    —Luke 8:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We need to confess to God our sin of neglecting His Holy Word. We have time enough—we take time—to read the writings of fellow-sinners, yet we have little or no time for the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is a series of Divine love letters, and yet many of God’s people have scarcely broken the seals.
    ... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), The Divine Inspiration of the Bible, Swengel, Pa.: Bible Truth Depot, 1917, p. 139-140 (see the book)
    See also Luke 8:11-12; Ps. 19:1-3; Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18; Rom. 1:16; 10:14-17; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:17; Col. 1:6; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I neglecting His word? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: following Jesus

Friday, March 21, 2014
Meditation:
    They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
    —Mark 14:32-34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If anyone tells you that the life of prayer is one uninterrupted experience of being happy with Jesus, do not follow him. He is not a safe guide. Those who follow the Lamb know that there are stretches of darkness and loneliness and perplexity along the way, and they know that Jesus himself went that way.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Journey Into Joy, Christian Literature Society, 1972, reprint, Wm. B. Errdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1973, p. 124 (see the book)
    See also Mark 14:33-34; Ps. 22:1; 23:4; 27:1; 46:1-3; 69:13-15; 88:6-7; 118:6; 130:1-2; Matt. 26:37-38; Rom. 8:18; 1 Cor. 15:55-57; Heb. 5:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I walking where Jesus walked? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: intervention

Thursday, March 20, 2014
    Feast of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687
Meditation:
    [Jonah] answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”
    This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
    —Jonah 1:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When the word intervenes in a situation, it changes that situation. When it comes on a man, it changes that man even if he refuses to listen. This goes beyond mere obedience. The word enlists man in an adventure into which he carries all those around him and which may be a controversy with God.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Judgment of Jonah, tr. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1971, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also Jon. 1:9-10; Deut. 18:15-19; 1 Sam. 8:18-19; Neh. 9:16-17; Jer. 11:9-10; Matt. 10:14-15; 11;15; 13:15; Mark 4:9; 6:10-11; 9:7; Luke 16:31;
Quiet time reflection:
    Have I ignored the word in my life? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: prayer life

Wednesday, March 19, 2014
    Feast of Joseph of Nazareth
Meditation:
    So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
    —Galatians 5:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A satisfying prayer life... elevates and purifies every act of body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a single spiritual unit. Such prayer can only be the result of a life lived in the Spirit...
    In the long pull we pray only as well as we live.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Root of the Righteous, Christian Publications, 1955, p. 81 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 46:1; 119:11; John 6:63; 14:26; 15:7,16; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:16,25; Eph. 5:18; Col. 3:16; 1 Thess. 5:19; 1 John 2:27; 2 John 1:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Are there areas of my life that I do not open to the Spirit? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: self-examination

Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
    “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
    —Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In judging others a man laboureth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboureth to good purpose.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xiv.1, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:1-5; Ps. 4:4; 26:2; 119:59; 139:23-24; Lam. 3:40; Hag. 1:7; 1 Cor. 11:28,31; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 6:3-5; 1 John 3:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Have I examined myself in the light of Christ? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: be a letter from God

Monday, March 17, 2014
    Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
Meditation:
    You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
    —2 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    You, too, are called to be an open letter, as Paul puts it, written by Christ’s own hand, showing those round about you what things Christ can do. We are to go into the world and so to live our ordinary lives that, all unconsciously to us, those among whom we move will look at us again, and will begin to say, You know I used to doubt if there was much in Christianity save talk. But I have revised my opinion. There’s So-and-so (that’s you, you understand), that is a man in whom the thing is obviously working out. He used to be so touchy, so opinionative, so mean and shabby in his views, so dully ordinary. Yet now, undoubtedly, the man has won to self-control and a large generous mind, and—yea, I know it’s a queer thing to say—but he has won to something more, something that somehow—though he never speaks about those things—makes you remember Jesus Christ!
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 28 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 3:3,18; Isa. 42:6-7; Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 1:8; Eph. 1:4; 4:15; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, have You more changes to make within me? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Beecher: piety first

Sunday, March 16, 2014
Meditation:
    In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
    —Hebrews 5:12-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The way to begin a Christian life is not to study theology. Piety before theology. Right living will produce right thinking. Yet many men, when their consciences are aroused, run for catechisms, and commentaries, and systems. They do not mean to be shallow Christians. They intend to be thorough, if they enter upon the Christian life at all. Now, theologies are well in their place; but repentance and love must come before all other experiences. First a cure for your sin-sick soul, and then theologies.
    ... Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), Life Thoughts: gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, Edna Dean Proctor, ed., Sheldon, 1860, p. 2 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 5:12-14; Pr. 9:10; Matt. 4:17; 11:29-30; Mark 1:15; 10:15; John 5:39-40; 13:15; Acts 3:19-20; 20:21; 1 Cor. 3:1-3; Phil. 2:5; 1 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 John 2:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I mature enough in love and purity to seek the deeper things of God? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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