Law: the will makes heaven and hell

Saturday, August 2, 2014
Meditation:
    The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
    —Romans 8:6-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The will is that which has all power; ... it makes heaven and it makes hell: for there is no hell but where the will of the creature is turned from God; nor any heaven but where the will of the creature worketh with God.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Way to Divine Knowledge [1752], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. VII, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 217 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:6-9; Matt. 12:41; Rom. 7:5; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 4:17-19; Col. 1:21-22; Jas. 4:4; 1 John 2:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, convert my mind to seek Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay: extravagant love

Friday, August 1, 2014
Meditation:
    While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
    When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
    Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
    —Matthew 26:6-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a certain extravagance in love. The alabaster phial of perfume was meant to be used drop by drop; it was meant to last for years, perhaps even a life-time; but in a moment of utter devotion, the woman poured it on the head of Jesus. Love does not stop nicely to calculate the less or more; love does not stop to work out how little it can respectively give. With a kind of divine extravagance, love gives everything it has and never counts the cost. Calculation is never any part of love.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Mind of Jesus [1961], New York, Harper & Row, 1961, p. 199 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 26:6-13; Deut. 6:5; 30:6; Mark 12:30; John 3:16; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 John 3:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your love is our model. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brother Lawrence: perfect worshiper

Thursday, July 31, 2014
    Commemoration of Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, 1556
Meditation:
    And [the seraphs] were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
    —Isaiah 6:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.
    ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, p. 17 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 6:3; Ps. 27:4; 29:2; 63:1-2; 100:1-4; 103:1-5; Zech. 14:16; Phil. 3:3; 1 Tim. 2:8; Heb. 12:28-29
Quiet time reflection:
    Praise the Lord, O my soul. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wilberforce: religion and social virtue

Wednesday, July 30, 2014
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    ... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
    —Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
Quotation:
    It seems to be an opinion pretty generally prevalent, that kindness and sweetness of temper; sympathizing, benevolent, and generous affections; attention to what in the world’s estimation are the domestic, relative, and social duties; and, above all, a life of general activity and usefulness, may well be allowed, in our imperfect state, to make up for the defect of what, in strict propriety of speech, is termed religion.
    Many indeed will unreservedly declare, and more will hint the opinion, that “the difference between the qualities above-mentioned and religion, is rather a verbal or logical, than a real and essential difference; for in truth, what are they but religion in substance if not in name? Is it not the great end of religion, and in particular the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate, and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends, and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties? We do not deny that, in the general mass of society, and particularly in the lower orders, such conduct and tempers cannot be diffused and maintained by any other medium than that of religion. But if the end be effected, surely it is only unnecessary refinement to dispute about the means. It is even to forget your own principles; and to refuse its just place to solid practical virtue, while you assign too high a value to speculative opinions.”
    Thus a fatal distinction is admitted between morality and religion: a great and desperate error, of which it is the more necessary to take notice; because many who would condemn, as too strong, the language in which this opinion is sometimes openly avowed, are yet more or less tinctured with the notion itself.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 197-198 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 5:22-23; Eccl. 7:29; Acts 2:40; Rom. 3:10; 2 Tim. 2:24-25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my allegiance is to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: our attention

Tuesday, July 29, 2014
    Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
    —Luke 4:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we are almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 4 (see the book)
    See also Luke 4:8; Deut. 6:13; Ps. 83:18; Matt. 4:10; 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Col. 2:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, occupy my mind in worship. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Franck: Jesus, priceless treasure

Monday, July 28, 2014
    Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750
Meditation:
    Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
    —John 15:14 (KJV)
Quotation:
Jesu, priceless treasure,
Source of purest pleasure
    Truest friend to me!
Long my heart has panted,
Till it well-nigh fainted,
    Thirsting after Thee!
Thine I am, O spotless Lamb!
I will suffer naught to hide Thee,
    Ask for naught beside Thee.

In Thine arm I rest me,
Foes who would molest me
    Cannot reach me here;
Though the earth be shaking
Every heart be quaking,
    Jesus calms my fear;
Sin and hell in conflict fell
With their heaviest storms assail me,
    Jesus will not fail me.

Hence, all thoughts of sadness,
For the Lord of gladness,
    Jesus, enters in!
Those who love the Father,
Though the storms may gather,
    Still have peace within;
Yea, whate’er we here must bear,
Still in Thee lies purest pleasure,
    Jesu, priceless treasure!
    ... Johann Franck (1618-1677), Christian Singers of Germany, Catherine Winkworth, New York: Macmillan & Co., 1869, p. 228-229 (see the book)
    See also John 15:14-16; Matt. 6:21; 12:50; 13:44-46; John 14:15; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Col. 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, there is nothing more precious than Your Kingdom.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: peacemaking

Sunday, July 27, 2014
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901
    Commemoration of John R. W. Stott, spiritual writer and teacher, 2011
Meditation:
    Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
    —James 3:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice—and so the pain—of the cross.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), The Cross Of Christ, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1986, p. 289 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 85:8; 122:6-8; Matt. 5:9; Luke 17:3-4; Rom. 12:1-2,18; 14:17-19; Gal. 5:22-23; 6:1-2; Col. 3:13; Jas. 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have paid the price for peace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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