Bonhoeffer: on success and failure

Saturday, July 25, 2015
    Feast of James the Apostle
Meditation:
    Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
    Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
    —Luke 12:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard. Such thought is a denial of eternal justice. Neither the triumph of the successful nor the bitter hatred which the successful arouse in the hearts of the unsuccessful can ultimately overcome the world. Jesus is certainly no apologist for the successful men in history, but neither does He head the insurrection of shipwrecked existences against their successful rivals. He is not concerned with success or failure but with the willing acceptance of God’s judgement. Only in this judgement is there reconciliation with God and among men.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Ethics, tr. Reinhard Krauss, Charles C. West, Douglas W. Stott, Fortress Press, 2005, reprint, Simon and Schuster, 2012, p. 78 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:13-14; Ex. 20:17; Eze. 33:31; Luke 1:53; 12:15-21; Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; 1 Tim. 6:3-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me careful only to do Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: thankfulness

Friday, July 24, 2015
    Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.”
    —Luke 9:48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be thankful, therefore, for the least benefit, and thou shall be worthy to receive greater. Let the least be unto thee even as the greatest, and let that which is of little account be unto thee as a special gift. If the majesty of the Giver be considered, nothing that is given shall seem small and of no worth, for that is not a small thing which is given by the Most High God.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, II.x.5, p. 103 (see the book)
    See also Luke 9:48; Matt. 22:21; 25:40; Mark 12:41-44; Luke 14:10; 21:1-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank You that I am small. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: governing the tongue

Thursday, July 23, 2015
    Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
    —Luke 6:45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If a man, whenever he was in company, where any one swore, talked lewdly, or spoke evil of his neighbour, should make it a rule to himself, either gently to reprove him, or if that was not proper, then to leave the company as decently as he could, he would find that this little rule, like a little leaven hid in a great quantity of meal, would spread and extend itself through the whole form of his life.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 66 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:45; Ps. 34:12-13; Matt. 13:33; Luke 13:12; Eph. 4:29; 5:4; Col. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, restrain my tongue. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Packer: light on Jesus

Wednesday, July 22, 2015
    Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”
    —John 15:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder, on Jesus, who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, “Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me,” but always, “Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him and hear his word; go to him and have life; get to know him and taste his gift of joy and peace.” The Spirit, we might say, is the matchmaker, the celestial marriage broker, whose role it is to bring us and Christ together and ensure that we stay together.
    ... James I. Packer (b. 1926), Keep in Step with the Spirit, Baker Books, 2005, p. 57 (see the book)
    See also John 15:26; 1:29; 6:40; Phil. 3:20-21; Heb. 12:2-3; Rev. 19:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Spirit of God, bring me to Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bloesch: prayer, not magic

Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Meditation:
    When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
    —James 4:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christian prayer must forever be distinguished from magic. The true God cannot be manipulated or controlled. He cannot be put in a box. He is not at our disposal even in his revelation. There are no guarantees that God will hear our prayers. Even when our prayers are answered, this is to be attributed to his free grace. Sinful mankind is always dependent on his mercy.
    ... Donald G. Bloesch (1928-2010), The Struggle of Prayer, Harper & Row, 1980, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also Job 30:20; Ps. 6:9; John 9:31; Rom. 8:26; Jas. 1:6-7; 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my prayer to You relies on Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: furnish one life

Monday, July 20, 2015
    Commemoration of Bartolomè de las Casas, Apostle to the Indies, 1566
Meditation:
    Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.
    —Acts 15:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is for us, in whom the Christian Church is at this moment partially embodied, to declare that Christianity, that the Christian faith, the Christian manhood, can do that for the world which the world needs. You say, “What can I do?” You can furnish one Christian life. You can furnish a life so faithful to every duty, so ready for every service, so determined not to commit every sin, that the great Christian Church shall be the stronger for your living in it, and the problem of the world be answered, and a certain great peace come into this poor, perplexed phase of our humanity as it sees that new revelation of what Christianity is.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also Acts 15:32; Luke 22:32; John 14:21; Acts 15:32; 1 Thess. 3:2-3; Heb. 12:11-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the strength to be faithful. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: a far worse sin

Sunday, July 19, 2015
    Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379
Meditation:
    “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
    ”‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
    “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
    “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
    “The first,” they answered.
    Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
    —Matthew 21:28-31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 91 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 21:28-31; 20:6; Luke 7:29,37-38; 15:1-2; 19:9-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purge cruelty and pride from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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