Stott: repentance

Saturday, April 26, 2014
Meditation:
    From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
    —Matthew 4:17 (KJV)
Quotation:
    With [Jesus] the new age had dawned, and the rule of God had broken into history. “Repent,” he cried, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Indeed, “He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.”
    The Sermon on the Mount, then, is to be seen in this context. It portrays the repentance (metonoia, the complete change of mind) and the righteousness which belong to the kingdom. That is, it describes what human life and humanity look like when they come under the gracious rule of God.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Sermon on the Mount [1978], InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 5 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 4:17; Lev. 11:44; Ps. 37:37; Matt. 4:23; 5:48; 6:8; 10:7; Mark 1:15; Luke 6:35-36; 1 Cor. 7:1; 13:11; Col. 1:28; 1 Pet. 1:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your presence and will be known to all Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Chapman: no road to God

Friday, April 25, 2014
    Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
    Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
    —Isaiah 40:1-5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The radical failure in so-called religion is that its way is from man to God. Starting with man, it seeks to rise to God; and there is no road that way.
    ... J. Arundel Chapman (1885-1934), The Theology of Karl Barth, London: Epworth Press, 1931, p. 20 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 40:1-5; Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:2-3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23; 10:9; 14:4-6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 5:1-2; Eph. 2:1-2; 1 Pet. 1:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You loved me first. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Wilberforce: no shortcuts

Thursday, April 24, 2014
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
    —Hebrews 6:1-2 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We need to warn [secretly self-complacent] persons that there is no shortcut to holiness. It must be the business of their whole lives to grow in grace and continually to add one virtue to another. It is, as far as possible, “to go on to perfection.”
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), Real Christianity, ed. James Houston, Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2005, p. 170 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 6:1-2; Ps. 84:7; John 6:27; 1 Cor. 15:58; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 5:22-23; Phil. 2:14-16; 4:8; Col. 3:16; 1 Thess. 3:13; 4:1,7; 1 Tim. 6:11; Heb. 12:10,14; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 2 Pet. 1:5-8; 3:14; 1 John 3:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen me to grow according to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Capon: just dead

Wednesday, April 23, 2014
    Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
    Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
Meditation:
    When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
    —Colossians 2:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus came to raise the dead. The only qualification for the gift of the Gospel is to be dead. You don’t have to be smart... You don’t have to be good. You don’t have to be wise. You don’t have to be wonderful. You don’t have to be anything... you just have to be dead. That’s it.
    ... Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), The Door Interviews, Mike Yaconelli, Zondervan, 1989, p. 230 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:13-14; Matt. 8:22; 17:9;22:31-32; Mark 12:25-27; Luke 9:60; 20:35-38; John 5:21,24-2528-29; Acts 2:24; 17:32; 26:8; Rom. 4:17; 6:4-5,8-11; 8:10-11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:21-22,51-54; 2 Cor. 1:9; Eph. 2:1-5; Rev. 1:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have raised us to life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Schaeffer: the mark

Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Meditation:
    This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
    —1 John 3:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Love—and the unity it attests to—is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The Mark of the Christian, Inter-Varsity Press, 1976, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 3:11; John 13:34-35; 17:21; Acts 4:32-35; Rom. 12:9-10; 13:9-10; Gal. 6:10; Col. 1:3-4; 3:12-13; 1 Thess. 4:9; 2 Thess. 1:3; Heb. 13:1; 1 Pet. 3:8; 4:8; 1 John 2:10; 3:10,14,23; 4:11,20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, increase our love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Lewis: something completely new

Monday, April 21, 2014
    Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
Meditation:
    While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
    They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
    When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
    —Luke 24:36-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Resurrection narratives are not a picture of survival after death; they record how a totally new mode of being has arisen in the Universe. Something new had appeared in the Universe: as new as the first coming of organic life. This Man, after death, does not get divided into “ghost” and “corpse.” A new mode of being has arisen. That is the story. What are we going to make of it?
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), God in the Dock [1970], ed. Walter Hooper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994, p. 159 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:36-43; Matt. 28:9,17-20; Luke 24:15-16,30-31; John 5:28-29; 20:26-27; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:13-14; 5:1-5; Phil. 3:20-21; Rev. 1:18
Quiet time reflection:
    By Your power, Lord, we shall live. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Brooks: Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer

Sunday, April 20, 2014
    Easter
Meditation:
    On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”
    —Luke 24:1-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right.
Faith and Hope triumphant say,
Christ will rise on Easter-Day.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Christmas Songs and Easter Carols, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1904, p. 35 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:1-7; Song of Solomon 8:6; Matt. 28:1-7; Mark 16:2-7; John 1:4-5; 20:1-8; Rom. 8:23-25; Heb. 11:1; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Alleluia! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt