Law: an uneven application

Saturday, April 12, 2014
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
    —Matthew 5:48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Is it not therefore exceeding strange, that people should place so much piety in the attendance upon public worship, concerning which there is not one precept of our Lord’s to be found, and yet neglect these common duties of our ordinary life, which are commanded in every page of the Gospel?
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 9 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:48; Gen. 17:1; Lev. 11:44; Deut. 18:13; Mic. 6:8; Luke 6:36; 2 Cor. 7:1; 13:11; 1 Pet. 1:15-16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me my neglects. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Babcock: no substitutes accepted

Friday, April 11, 2014
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
Meditation:
    Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
    —John 15:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christianity is not a voice in the wilderness, but a life in the world. It is not an idea in the air but feet on the ground, going God’s way. It is not an exotic to be kept under glass, but a hardy plant to bear twelve manner of fruit in all kinds of weather. Fidelity to duty is its root and branch. Nothing we can say to the Lord, no calling Him by great or dear names, can take the place of the plain doing of His will. We may cry out about the beauty of eating bread with Him in His kingdom, but it is wasted breath and a rootless hope, unless we plow and plant in His kingdom here and now. To remember Him at His table and to forget Him at ours, is to have invested in bad securities. There is no substitute for plain, every-day goodness.
    ... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 48 (see the book)
    See also John 15:4-6; Matt. 15:36; 26:26-27; Mark 6:41; 14:22-23; John 6:11; Acts 27:35; Rom. 14:6; 1 Tim. 4:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never forget my debt to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: the heart's rest

Thursday, April 10, 2014
    Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
    Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
    Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
    —Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, I.i, p. 1 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 11:28-30; Ps. 38:4; 116:7; Isa. 55:1-3; 66:2; Jer. 6:16; Mic. 6:6-8; Gal. 5:1; 2 Thess. 1:6-7; Heb. 4:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Are there some near me who need hear about the Lord’s rest? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: to whom confess?

Wednesday, April 9, 2014
    Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945
Meditation:
    Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
    —1 John 3:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Anybody who lives beneath the Cross and who has discerned in the Cross of Jesus the utter wickedness of all men and of his own heart will find there is no sin that can ever be alien to him. Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 118 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 3:4; Ps. 25:11; Matt. 15:17-20; Luke 6:45; John 8:34; Rom. 7:13,22-24; Eph. 2:1-2; Heb. 12:1; Jas. 1:13-15; Jude 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I hate my sin enough? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lawrence: drawing us to Himself

Tuesday, April 8, 2014
    Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877
Meditation:
In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
    even as we put our hope in you.
    —Psalm 33:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God has many ways of drawing us to Himself. He sometimes hides Himself from us; but faith alone, which will not fail us in time of need, ought to be our support and the foundation of our confidence, which must be all in God.
    ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, p. 40-41 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 33:21-22; 10:1; 13; 22:1-2; 89:46; 147:11; Pr. 3:25-26; John 20:29; Rom. 1:17; Heb. 4:16; 1 John 5:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I trusting in God alone? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Orchard: Breathe on us, breath of God

Monday, April 7, 2014
Meditation:
    The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
    Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
    Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
    —1 Kings 19:11-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Breathe on us, breath of God; not as the mighty rushing wind, lest the dimly burning flax be quenched; but with the quiet breath that shall fan to flame our smouldering faith. Inward Presence of our God, we cannot do without Thee! Unless first we hear the gentle whisper of Thy voice, the majesty of fire and storm, the glories of earth and heaven will pass in meaningless pageantry before us. The sacred page of the past and the slowly-traced bible of today will alike be closed to us. As we address ourselves to seek our God, light Thou our hearts with His presence. As we turn to think of Jesus, make our hearts to burn with love. Spirit of the Living God, Spirit of Jesus, Spirit who choosest man’s mind for Thy dwelling; make Thyself known to us now. Amen.
    ... William Edwin Orchard (1877-1955), The Temple: a book of prayers, 3rd ed., New York, E. P. Dutton, 1918, p. 146 (see the book)
    See also 1 Kings 19:11-13; Ps. 46:1-7; Joel 2:28-29; John 14:16-17,23; Rom. 5:5; 8:10-11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 John 4:4; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Can I open up more to the indwelling Spirit? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: simply God

Sunday, April 6, 2014
    Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564
Meditation:
O God, you are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
    my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
    where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.
    —Psalm 63:1-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What heart in the kingdom of heaven would ever dream of constructing a metaphysical system of what we owed to God and why we owed it? The light of our life, our sole, eternal, and infinite joy, is simply God—God—God—nothing but God, and all his creatures in him. He is all and in all, and the children of the kingdom know it. He includes all things; not to be true to anything he has made is to be untrue to him.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Righteousness”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 221-222 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 63:1-4; 27:8; 42:1-3; 84:10; 143:6; 105:3-4; Pr. 8:17; Isa. 44:3; Matt. 7:7-8; John 4:13-14; 6:35; 7:37-39; Heb. 11:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Can I be satisfied with any less than God’s presence? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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