Rashdall: coming in penitence

Saturday, September 20, 2014
    Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871
Meditation:
    If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
    —1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It does not make a very great difference what side of Christ’s work attracts us and appeals to us most. Doubtless Christ has many ways of drawing men to Himself. One side of Christ’s work will appeal most to one mind, another to another. The mistake that is often made by those who speak most about Christian experience is that they are so apt to insist upon everyone else’s experience—on penalty of its utter worthlessness—being exactly the same as their own. The great thing is that we should be attracted by Christ in some way, that we should come to God in that spirit of penitence which Christ taught was the one condition of acceptance with Him, and with that steady purpose of amendment which is, as he always taught, a part of true penitence.
    ... James Hastings Rashdall (1858-1924), Principles and Precepts, Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1927, p. 126-127 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:14-27; Joel 2:13; Jonah 3:9-10; Matt. 3:8; 4:17; Mark 6:12; Luke 18:10-14; Acts 8:22; 17:30; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; Jas. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, dispel all envy and pride of position from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Schaeffer: restoration of fellowship

Friday, September 19, 2014
    Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
    —Matthew 6:12 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We need a once-for-all forgiveness at justification, and we need a moment-by-moment forgiveness for our sins on the basis of Christ’s work in order to be in open fellowship with God. What the Lord has taught us to pray in the Lord’s prayer should make a Christian very sober every day of his life: We are asking the Lord to open to us the experiential realities of fellowship with himself as we forgive others.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The Mark of the Christian, Inter-Varsity Press, 1976, p. 24 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:12; Ps. 32:1; 51:7; Isa. 1:18; Luke 17:3-5; Eph. 1:7-8; 4:32; Col. 3:13; 1 John 1:7-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may nothing interrupt our fellowship. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: in praise of doubt

Thursday, September 18, 2014
    Commemoration of George MacDonald, Spiritual Writer, 1905
Meditation:
    [Jesus] 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.”
    —Luke 24:38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I cannot say I never doubt, nor until I hold the very heart of good as my very own in Him, can I wish not to doubt. For doubt is the hammer that breaks the windows clouded with human fancies, and lets in the pure light. But I do say that all my hope, all my joy, all my strength are in the Lord Christ and his Father; that all my theories of life and growth are rooted in him.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), in George MacDonald and His Wife, Greville MacDonald, G. Allen & Unwin, 1924, p. 374 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:38-39; Ps. 42:5-6; 73:13-17; Matt. 4:16; 8:26; 14:31; 17:17; Mark 4:40; 9:19; Luke 8:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may all my doubts lead me back to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: the 'historical Jesus'

Wednesday, September 17, 2014
    Feast of St. Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179
Meditation:
    The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
    —2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In the first place, [fashionable theories about the ‘historical Jesus’] all tend to direct men’s devotion so something which does not exist, for each ‘historical Jesus’ is unhistorical. The documents say what they say and cannot be added to; each new ‘historical Jesus’ therefore has to be got out of them by suppression at one point and exaggeration at another, and by that sort of guessing (brilliant is the adjective we ... apply to it) on which no one would risk ten shillings in ordinary life.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Screwtape Letters, Macmillan, 1944, p. 138 (see the book)
    See also 2 Thess. 2:9-10; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2; Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 4:7; Tit. 1:13-14; 2 Pet. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your sheep know Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cyprian: tares

Tuesday, September 16, 2014
    Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258
    Commemoration of Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c. 430
    Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, tractarian, 1882
Meditation:
    Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
    “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
    “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
    “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
    “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to b! e burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
    —Matthew 13:24-30 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Although tares, or impure vessels, are found in the Church, yet this is not a reason why we should withdraw from it. It only behoves us to labour that we may be ... vessels of gold or of silver. But to break in pieces the vessels of earth belongs to the Lord alone, to whom a rod of iron is also given. Nor let any one arrogate to himself what is exclusively the province of the Son of God, by pretending to fan the floor, clear away the chaff, and separate all the tares by the judgment of man. This is proud obstinacy and sacrilegious presumption, originating in a corrupt frenzy.
    ... St. Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus) (?-258), Lib. 3, Ep. 5, to Maximus, quoted in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. II, John Calvin & tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, IV.i.19, p. 240 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:24-30; Ps. 2:9; Rom. 9:22-25; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:20-21; 1 Pet. 1:7; Rev. 2:27; 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone save all those You call. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: following the living

Monday, September 15, 2014
Meditation:
    The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    —John 1:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is not said in the Book, “The Word became printer’s ink,” but it is said, “The Word became flesh.” Had the Word become printer’s ink, we should have followed a code. Instead our code is a Character. We follow a living mind instead of a fixed letter.
    ... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), The Christ of the American Road, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944, p. 20 (see the book)
    See also John 1:14; Isa. 51:6; Rom. 2:29; 3:20; 4:14-16; 7:6,9-11; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 3:10-12; Col. 2:13-14; Heb. 8:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You live to lead Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watts: His grace

Sunday, September 14, 2014
    Feast of the Holy Cross
Meditation:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    love and faithfulness go before you.
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
    who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
    —Psalm 89:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
Justice and Judgment are thy throne
    Yet wondrous is thy grace;
While truth and mercy joined in one,
    Invite us near thy face.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), [1719] Psalms of David Imitated [1719], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, Ps. 89, second part, p. 182 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 89:7-15; 85:10; Amos 5:15,23-24; Matt. 12:7; 1 Cor. 13:6; Rev. 15:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people pray for the establishment of Your justice among the nations. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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