Rutherford: why the sad heart?

Saturday, March 7, 2015
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
Meditation:
    ... and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
    —Isaiah 35:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I wonder many times that ever a child of God should have a sad heart, considering what their Lord is preparing for them.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, 1643, p. 74 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 35:10; Matt. 5:4; 2 Cor. 7:10-11; Jas. 1:2; Rev. 21:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You lift the hearts of the sorrowful. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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D'Oyly & Mant: reading the Bible

Friday, March 6, 2015
Meditation:
    All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
    —2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Word of God was written to give us not merely a speculative apprehension, but an experimental sense and feeling, of holy things, comfortable or terrifying as our spiritual state requires. Too many, alas, have no conception of this efficacy in Scripture: and no wonder, for they have never seriously endeavoured to have any. But let them try in earnest, and they will infallibly succeed, if they use proper means. We read of some, what will be true of all in the same condition, that the word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. God indeed can operate according to His own pleasure: but humanly speaking, persons will not be influenced by what they disbelieve; and not much by what they believe but faintly. Nay, should they labour to make the strongest impressions on their own souls, without applying to Him, whose gift saving faith is, their efforts would be vain. But let any one jointly strive and pray for a deep conviction, that the Bible is the appointed instrument of his religious proficiency: then let him read it, not as performing a task, he knows not why, from which he had rather be excused,... to amend his inward state towards God: that... by patience in well doing, and comfort in virtuous suffering, which we learn of His holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.
    ... George D’Oyly (1778-1846) & Richard Mant (1776-1848), Holy Bible According to the Authorized Version, Introduction to, London: SPCK, 1839, p. xviii-xix (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Sam. 23:2; Matt. 22:43; Mark 12:36; John 10:35; Rom. 3:2; 15:4; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we are blessed in Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Aldrich: caricatures of Christianity (III)

Thursday, March 5, 2015
Meditation:
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
    or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.
    —Psalm 1:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “To become a Christian, I must go to church and get involved in lots of meetings.” This is the old “churchianity” caricature. Unfortunately, some of our churches perpetuate this idea by pushing a program which encourages a neurotic Christian activism. I shared with my neighbor that I wasn’t interested in lots of meetings, but that I did enjoy regular times of significant teaching and worship.
    ... Joseph C. Aldrich (1941-2009), Lifestyle Evangelism, Multnomah Press, 1981, p. 216 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 1:1-2; Eccl. 3:12-13; 12:12; Phil. 4:8; 1 Thess. 5:21; Heb. 10:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, restore the peace of Your presence to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Aldrich: caricatures of Christianity (II)

Wednesday, March 4, 2015
    Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
Meditation:
    Be joyful always.
    —1 Thessalonians 5:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “To become a Christian, I must give up everything that I enjoy.” This is a partial truth. His observations may have led him to conclude that Christians never have any fun. The caricature could be stated this way. “Christians are negative people. I don’t want to be so negative, therefore, I don’t want to be a Christian.” Unfortunately, some Christians act in ways that reinforce the caricature... You can be the key to eliminating this distortion.
    ... Joseph C. Aldrich (1941-2009), Lifestyle Evangelism, Multnomah Press, 1981, p. 215 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 5:16; Matt. 5:3-12; 25:21; Luke 2:10; 24:52-53; John 17:13; Acts 8:8; 13:52; Rom. 5:2,11; 14:17; 15:13; Phil. 4:4; 1 Pet. 1:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given me every reason to be joyful. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Aldrich: caricatures of Christianity (I)

Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Meditation:
    [Peter:] “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
    —Acts 15:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “Christianity is keeping the golden rule. Therefore, for me to become a Christian, I must try harder.” Hardly good news to someone who has tried and tried and failed and failed. To eliminate this caricature of the gospel, plant this though. Just the other day, my neighbor said to me, “I’m not a very religious person.” I replied, “I’m not either. I was delighted to discover that Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship with a person, Jesus Christ.” That to most non-Christians is a revolutionary thought. If you did nothing more than eliminate that caricature, you have made great progress in your evangelistic enterprise.
    ... Joseph C. Aldrich (1941-2009), Lifestyle Evangelism, Multnomah Press, 1981, p. 215 (see the book)
    See also Acts 15:10-11; Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31; Acts 8:4,25,40; 14:6-7; 27:8; 1 Cor. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people follow You personally. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Arndt: the divine image

Monday, March 2, 2015
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
    Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
    —Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God planted three principal faculties in the soul of man; which are the understanding, the will, and the memory; that in these three the manifestation of his glory might more fully and distinctly be set forth. These faculties, as an out-flowing from its original source and root, the Holy Trinity produces and preserves, sanctifies and illuminates, most beautifully decks and adorns with its divine graces, works and gifts.
    ... John Arndt (1555-1621), True Christianity, tr. A. W. Boehm, Boston: Lincoln & Edmands, 1809, p. 35 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 1:26-30; Ps. 16:3; Pr. 8:30-31; John 13:1; Eph. 4:22-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have remade Your image in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ryle: debtors

Sunday, March 1, 2015
    Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Meditation:
    For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
    —Romans 11:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Have we ever seen holier men than the martyred John Bradford, or Hooker, or Usher, or Baxter, or Rutherford, or M’Cheyne? Yet no one can read the writings and letters of these men without seeing that they felt themselves “debtors to mercy and grace” every day, and the very last thing they ever laid claim to was perfection!
    ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), Holiness [1877, 1879], Sovereign Grace Publishers, reprint, 2001, intro., p. v (see the book)
    See also Rom. 11:32; Ps. 14:1-3; Eccl. 7:20; Matt. 5:48; Rom. 3:9-10,22-23; 2 Cor. 7:1; 13:11; Heb. 6:1; 1 John 1:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your light exposes all my faults. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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