Johnson: observance

Saturday, December 13, 2014
    Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
    Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Meditation:
    One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
    —Romans 14:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One of them having objected to the “observance of days, and months, and years,” Johnson answered, “The church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.”
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. II [1791], James Boswell, London: National illustrated library, 1851, p. 293 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 14:5-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we remember You on these sacred days. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Packer: hope for ruined humanity

Friday, December 12, 2014
Meditation:
    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
    —1 Peter 1:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.
    ... James I. Packer (b. 1926), Knowing God, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973, p. 63 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 1:3-5; Isa. 42:1-4; Matt. 8:20; 27:54; Luke 1:76-79; 2:6-7,14; 19:42; John 14:27; 16:33; Rom. 15:12-13; Eph. 1:11-12; Col. 1:27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let the hope of glory spread throughout Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Owen: spiritual abilities

Thursday, December 11, 2014
Meditation:
    Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
    —1 Timothy 4:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I do not know a warning that I judge more necessary to be given to those who are called this day, than to charge them not to trade too much with their natural gifts, and abilities, and learning. These are talents in their kind; but it is the Spirit must manage all that learning they have, or it will prejudice them, and you also. I have known some good men have been so addicted to their study, that they have thought the last day of the week sufficient to prepare for their ministry, though they employ all the rest of the week in other studies. But your business is to trade with your spiritual abilities...
    A man may preach a very good sermon, who is otherwise himself; but he will never make a good minister of Jesus Christ, whose heart and mind [are] not always in the work. Spiritual gifts will require continual ruminating on the things of the Gospel in our minds.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Ordination Sermon (Sermon IV) [1678], in Works of John Owen, v. IX, New York: R. Carter, 1851, pp. 448, 451 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:14; 119:11; Matt. 25:14-30; Rom. 12:4-8; Eph. 4:8-13; 1 Tim. 4:13-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray for my ministers, that they should devote themselves to the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Merton: identity

Wednesday, December 10, 2014
    Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968
Meditation:
    Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
    —1 John 4:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence: for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.
    ... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Seeds of Contemplation, London: Hollis & Carter, 1949, New Directions. 1949, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:8; Ex. 34:6-7; Ps. 86:5,15; 2 Cor. 13:11; Eph. 2:4-5; 1 John 1:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are restoring Your image in Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Yaconelli: wholeness in Christ

Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Meditation:
    For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
    —1 Corinthians 11:23 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us.
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), The Door, Issues 139-150, Youth Specialties, 1995, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 11:23-24; Isa. 53:5; Rom. 6:17-19; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 12:2; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19; 5:8-10; Col. 3:5-7; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 Pet. 4:1-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, our wounds are being healed through Your love and power. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Underhill: being

Monday, December 8, 2014
Meditation:
“Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”
    —Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We mostly spend [our] lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do. Craving, clutching, and fussing, on the material, political, social, emotional, intellectual—even on the religious—plane, we are kept in perpetual unrest: forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be: and that Being, not wanting, having, and doing, is the essence of a spiritual life.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Spiritual Life, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1985, p. 24-25 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 46:10; 27:14; 37:7,16; Eccl. 4:6; 5:10; Hab. 2:20; Matt. 6:25-26,31-33; 20:25-28; Luke 12:15,29-31; Rom. 8:14; Eph. 4:17; 1 Tim. 6:6-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the sole source of all that is authentic. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Ambrose: acquiring another virtue

Sunday, December 7, 2014
    Advent II
    Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397
Meditation:
My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promises.
    —Psalm 119:148 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How pleasant it is to begin the day with hymns and canticles, with the Beatitudes which you read in the Gospel! How propitious that the words of Christ should bless you, and while you repeat the Lord’s benedictions, you should become eager for the acquirement of one or another virtue, so that even in your own self you may recognize the power of the Divine benediction.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), The Life and Times of St. Ambrose, v. II, Frederick Homes Dudden, The Clarendon Press, 1935, p. 443 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:148; 1:2; 133:1; Matt. 5:3-12,48; 1 Cor. 14:1; Gal. 5:22-23; 1 Pet. 1:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your words feed my desire for You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt