Baxter: more than our own salvation

Saturday, June 14, 2014
    Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691
Meditation:
    I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
    —Philippians 1:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have greater work here to do than mere securing our own salvation. We are members of the world and church, and we must labour to do good to many. We are trusted with our Master’s talents for his service, in our places to do our best to propagate his truth, and grace, and church; and to bring home souls, and honour his cause, and edify his flock, and further the salvation of as many as we can. All this is to be done on earth, if we will secure the end of all in heaven.
    ... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), “Dying Thoughts upon Philippians 1:23”, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, v. XVIII, London: J. Duncan, 1830, p. 245 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:23-24; John 15:26; 16:7; Acts 2:33; Rom. 13:11; Phil. 2:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me alert to the work You have called me to. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chesterton: new ideals for old

Friday, June 13, 2014
    Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
Meditation:
    For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
    —2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In the modern world we are primarily confronted with the extraordinary spectacle of people turning to new ideals because they have not tried the old. Men have not got tired of Christianity; they have never found enough Christianity to get tired of.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), What’s Wrong with the World, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1912, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Pr. 1:32; Jer. 6:16-17; Luke 18:8; John 3:19-21; Acts 17:21; Tit. 1:13-14; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 4:1,7; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Pet. 1:16; 2:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, recover this generation, to Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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St. Isaac: the purpose of illness

Thursday, June 12, 2014
Meditation:
    For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
    —2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When you are ill say: “Blessed are those who have found the purpose set by God in these things which He inflicts for our profit.” God brings illness for the health of the soul.
    ... St. Isaac of Syria (d. c. 700), fifth discourse, On Ascetical Life, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989, p. 88 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:17; Ps. 119:67,71; Matt. 5:4; John 9:2-3; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:18; Jas. 5:15; 1 Pet. 1:6; 5:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, increase my faith in Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Price: lifting Christ up

Wednesday, June 11, 2014
    Feast of Barnabas the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
    —John 6:44 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I want to emphasize for the sake of clarity, and for Jesus’ sake, that there is no one set way of leading a man, woman or child to Christ. Our part is merely to “lift Him up” and let Him do His own work.
    ... Eugenia Price (1916-1996), Discoveries: Made from Living My New Life, Zondervan, 1979, p. 118 (see the book)
    See also John 6:44; Ps. 19:7; Matt. 28:19-20; John 15:26; Acts 2:47; 11:20-21; 13:48; 20:27; 21:19; Rom. 15:18-19; 1 Cor. 12:11; Col. 1:25-28; 2 Tim. 2:24-26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people lift up Your Name before the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the way of spending every day

Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Meditation:
    And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
    —Colossians 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we are to follow Christ, it must be in our common way of spending every day.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 10 (see the book)
    See also Col. 3:16-17; Matt. 4:19; 6:33-34; Mark 1:17-18; Luke 5:10; 11:3; Acts 2:46; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 9:20-22; 10:31; Phil. 2:14-16; 4:11-13; 1 Thess. 4:11; 5:15-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to acknowledge You continually. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: the whetstone

Monday, June 9, 2014
    Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597
    Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
    —James 1:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith hath cause to take courage from our very afflictions; the devil is but a whetstone to sharpen the faith and patience of the saints. I know that he but heweth and polisheth stones all this time for the New Jerusalem.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, March 9, 1637, p. 218 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:2-3,12; Matt. 5:10-12; Luke 6:22-23; Acts 5:41; Rom. 5:3-4; 8:17-18; 2 Cor. 4:17; 12:9; Col. 1:24; Heb. 10:34; 1 Pet. 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help my faith, to see my trials for what they are. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: the Spirit of redeeming love

Sunday, June 8, 2014
    Pentecost
    Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711
    Commemoration of Roland Allen, Mission Strategist, 1947
Meditation:
    And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy...
    Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ...
    Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
    —Acts 2:17-18,36,38 (AV)
Quotation:
    The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Redemption is inconceivable without truth and holiness. But the mere fact that the Holy Spirit’s first recorded action in the gospels is an expression of redeeming love should cause us to suspect a teaching which represents His work as primarily, if not solely, the sanctification of our own souls to the practical exclusion of His activity in us towards others. It is important to teach of Him as the Spirit of holiness; it is also important to teach of Him as the Spirit which in us labours for the salvation of men everywhere.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World, London: Oxford University Press, 1917, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 27-28 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:17-18,36,38; Mic. 3:8; Luke 4:1-14; 24:49; John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; Acts 1:8; 2:1-6,33; 9:31; Rom. 5:5; Tit. 3:4-7; Heb. 2:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit is seeking and saving the lost. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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