MacDonald: the cause of unbelief

Saturday, November 7, 2015
    Feast of Willibrord of York, Archbishop of Utrecht, Apostle of Frisia, 739
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
    —John 14:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One chief cause of the amount of unbelief in the world is, that those who have seen something of the glory of Christ, set themselves to theorize concerning him rather than to obey him. In teaching men, they have not taught them Christ, but taught them about Christ. More eager after credible theory than after doing the truth, they have speculated in a condition of heart in which it was impossible they should understand; they have presumed to explain a Christ whom years and years of obedience could alone have made them able to comprehend.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Justice”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, pp. 135-136 (see the book)
    See also John 14:21; Ps. 62:12; 111:10; 143:10; Matt. 7:24; 13:13-15; Mark 9:24; John 13:17; 14:15; Rom. 14:23; 1 Cor. 1:23-24; Eph. 4:17-18; Col. 1:9; Heb. 13:16; Jas. 1:22-25; 2 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You urge me to live Your truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Temple: knowledge of a Person

Friday, November 6, 2015
    Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944
Meditation:
    “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD.
    —Zechariah 2:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Knowledge of God can be fully given to man only in a Person, never in a doctrine... Faith is not the holding of correct doctrines, but personal fellowship with the living God.
    ... William Temple (1881-1944), Nature, Man and God, London: Macmillan, 1934, 1949, p. 321-322 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 5:24; 6:9; Ex. 29:45; 33:14-17; Zech. 2:10; Mark 9:37; John 14:23; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 John 1:5-7; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I know Your presence with me this moment. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Anderson: changing attitudes instead of circumstances

Thursday, November 5, 2015
Meditation:
    So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
    But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?”
    They said, “Caesar’s.”
    He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
    And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.
    —Luke 20:21-26 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday] [Christ] was primarily concerned to change men as men rather than the political regime under which they lived; to transform their attitude rather than their circumstances; to treat the sickness of their hearts rather than the problems of their environment. But he laid down in a single pregnant sentence man’s duty both to God and to the State when he said: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s;” and it is certainly not his fault that the Christian church has been so slow, down the centuries, in applying to one after another of the world’s social evils the principle he emphasized so strongly, that we must love our neighbours as ourselves.
    ... J. N. D. Anderson (1908-1994), Christianity: the Witness of History, Tyndale Press, 1969, p. 51 (see the book)
    See also Luke 20:20-26; Matt. 22:16-22; Mark 12:13-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, eradicate all illusions about my own influence and power; let me be an instrument of Your grace to work Your will in the world, rather than my own. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Anderson: basic social reform

Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
    “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
    —Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Jesus has also been accused of being ineffective, in a political sense, and of having done little to right social injustices. But it is clear from the Sermon on the Mount that he was deeply concerned that his disciples should be both the “salt” and the “light” of secular society; he endorsed the authority of those Old Testament prophets who vehemently rebuked social injustice; and he consistently identified himself with the poor and weak, with social outcasts and those who were regarded as morally disreputable... It is true that he did not lead a rebellion against Rome, seek to free slaves, or introduce a social revolution. He had come for a particular purpose, which was far more important than any of these things—and from that purpose nothing could or did deflect him. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... J. N. D. Anderson (1908-1994), Christianity: the Witness of History, Tyndale Press, 1969, p. 50-51 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:13-16; Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19; 2 Chr. 13:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant us grace, Lord, to be salt and light in our society. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hooker: the righteousness of God

Tuesday, November 3, 2015
    Feast of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher, 1600
    Commemoration of Martin of Porres, Dominican Friar, 1639
Meditation:
    The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
    —1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I must take heed what I say: but the apostle saith, “God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Such we are in the sight of God the Father, as is the very Son of God himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, whatsoever, it is our comfort, and our wisdom; we care for no knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered; that God hath made himself the son of man, and that men are made the righteousness of God.
    ... Richard Hooker (1554?-1600), The Work of Mr. Richard Hooker, v.III, London: W. Clarke, 1821, p. 341 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:14; Matt. 11:25; 1 Cor. 1:18-25; 2:6-8; 3:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my hope. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: Come to church!

Monday, November 2, 2015
    Feast of All Souls
Meditation:
    But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
    “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
    At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.
    —Acts 5:19-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Come to church! You can do that of your own free will. You can leave your home on a Sunday morning and come to hear the sermon. If you will not, you are of your own free will excluding yourself from the place where faith is a possibility.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 65 (see the book)
    See also Acts 5:19-21; John 1:40-41; Acts 16:14-15; Rom. 16:3-5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Phlmn. 1:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bless the church with Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chadwick: the essence

Sunday, November 1, 2015
    Feast of All Saints
Meditation:
    I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
    —Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The true Christian religion is not a set of doctrines about Christ, neither is it a rule of life based upon the teaching and example of Christ. It is not even an earnest and sincere endeavor to live according to the mind and spirit of Christ. It is life, and that life is the life of Christ. It is a continuation of the life of the risen Lord in His Body which is the Church, and in the sanctified believer. “Christ liveth in me” is the essence of the Christian religion as set forth in the New Testament. It is not a system but a Presence: the Spirit of Christ indwelling the spirit of man.
    ... Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932), The Way to Pentecost, Hodder and Stoughton, 1932, p. 54 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 2:20; John 14:19-20; 17:20-21; 2 Cor. 4:10-11; 13:5; Eph. 3:16-17; Col. 1:27; 1 Thess. 5:10; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your presence is blessing. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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