Newton: not idols but incentives

Saturday, July 12, 2014
Meditation:
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
    extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD.
    —Psalm 117:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When everything we receive from him is received and prized as a fruit and pledge of his covenant love, then his bounties, instead of being set up as rivals and idols to draw our heart from him, awaken us to fresh exercises of gratitude, and furnish us with fresh motives of cheerful obedience every hour.
    ... John Newton (1725-1807), in a letter, 1776, The Works of the Rev. John Newton, v. II, New York: Williams and Whiting, 1810, p. 216 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 117:1-2; Matt. 6:1-18; Eph. 5:20; Col. 1:12; 3:15-17; Jas. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant a grateful heart within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Owen: sin in his heart

Friday, July 11, 2014
    Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550
Meditation:
    Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
    —Deuteronomy 5:29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In all the sins of men, God principally regards the principle, that is, the heart.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. III-V, in Works of John Owen, v. XXI, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1854, p. 88 (see the book)
    See also Deut. 5:29; Ps. 95:10-11; Pr. 23:26; Matt. 5:27-28; Heb. 3:7-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cleanse and correct my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Peterson: the parable bomb

Thursday, July 10, 2014
Meditation:
    Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
    —Matthew 13:3-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus’ favorite speech form, the parable, was subversive. Parables sound absolutely ordinary: casual stories about soil and seeds, meals and coins and sheep, bandits and victims, farmers and merchants. And they are wholly secular: of his forty or so parables recorded in the Gospels, only one has its setting in church, and only a couple mention the name God. As people heard Jesus tell these stories, they saw at once that they weren’t about God, so there was nothing in them threatening their own sovereignty. They relaxed their defenses. They walked away perplexed, wondering what they meant, the stories lodged in their imagination. And then, like a time bomb, they would explode in their unprotected hearts. An abyss opened up at their very feet. He was talking about God; they had been invaded!
    ... Eugene H. Peterson (b. 1932), The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1993, p. 32 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:3-11; Ps. 25:8-9; Matt. 7:28-29; 11:25-26; Mark 4:1,11-12; Luke 4:15; 8:10; 20:21; 1 Cor. 2:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your wisdom surpasses all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Edersheim: the depth

Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Meditation:
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
    —Psalm 139:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    However low I may sink, there is not a depth but grace goes still deeper.
    ... Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889), The Golden Diary of Heart Converse with Jesus in the Book of Psalms, London: J. Nisbet & Company, 1866, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 139:8; Deut. 33:27; Ps. 130:1; Jon. 2:2; Luke 18:1; 19:10; Rom. 8:38-39; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 10:17-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace is inexhaustible. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Gordon: the full consequences of atonement

Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Meditation:
    It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
    —2 Corinthians 4:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We hold that in its ultimate consequences the atonement affects the body as well as the soul of man. Sanctification is the consummation of Christ’s redemptive work for the soul; and resurrection is the consummation of his redemptive work for the body. And these meet and are fulfilled at the coming and kingdom of Christ.
    ... A. J. Gordon (1836-1895), The Ministry of Healing, Boston: H. Gannett, 1883, p. 18 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:13-14; John 5:28-29; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:20-21; 2 Cor. 5:1; Phil. 3:10-11,21; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; Rev. 20:4-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your will cannot be changed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Gore: anthropomorphism

Monday, July 7, 2014
Meditation:
[The LORD:]
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels shouted for joy?
    —Job 38:4-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The fact is that whatever man thinks or imagines he must think or imagine ‘anthropomorphically,’ for he can think only human thoughts. It follows that if human thoughts are necessarily limited and imperfect, the highest thought that man can think of God is inadequate to its subject.
    ... Charles Gore (1853-1932), The New Theology and the Old Religion, E.P. Dutton, 1907, p. 58 (see the book)
    See also Job 38:4-7; Eccl. 3:11; Isa. 40:12-14; 55:8-9; John 1:18; 6:46; Rom. 11:33-34; 1 Cor. 2:9-11,16; 1 John 4:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we can only know You through Your Son. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Machen: the creative God

Sunday, July 6, 2014
    Feast of John Huss, Reformer, Martyr, 1413
    Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, &
    John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535
Meditation:
    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
    —Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The possibility of miracle, then, is indissolubly joined with “theism.” Once admit the existence of a personal God, maker and Ruler of the world, and no limits, temporal or otherwise, can be set to the creative powers of such a God. Admit that God once created the world, and you cannot deny that He might engage in creation again.
    ... J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), Christianity and Liberalism, The Macmillan Company, 1923, p. 87 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 1:1; Ex. 3:19-20; 1 Kings 18:37-39; Isa. 40:28; Jon. 1:14-16; Matt. 11:3-5; Luke 5:26; John 4:48; 9:3; 11:42; Acts 2:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, all nature exists by Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt