Brooks: life without prayer foolish

Saturday, January 23, 2016
    Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893
Meditation:
    And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
    “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘
    “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
    “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
    —Luke 12:16-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing: it is an infinitely foolish thing.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 138 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:16-21; Ps. 14:1; Prov. 14:16; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep my heart in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Beaufort: resting on God

Friday, January 22, 2016
Meditation:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
    —Psalm 32:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
    That when an occasion of practicing some virtue offered, he addressed himself to God, saying, “Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest me;” and that then he received strength more than sufficient.
    That when he had failed in his duty, he simply confessed his fault, saying to God, “I shall never do otherwise if Thou leavest me to myself; it is Thou who must hinder my falling, and mend what is amiss.” That after this, he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.
    ... Joseph de Beaufort (17th C), The Character of Brother Lawrence, in The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence, New York, Revell, 1895, p. 10 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 32:1-5; 51:1-5; Jas. 5:16; 1 John 1:8-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant me the faith, Lord, to accept Your forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: servant and free

Thursday, January 21, 2016
    Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304
Meditation:
    You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
    —Romans 6:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A Christian man is most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), Treatise on Christian Liberty [1520], p. 312 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:18; Ps. 116:16; 119:32,45; Matt. 20:25-28; Mark 9:35; 10:42-45; Luke 14:8-11; John 8:32,36; Rom. 6:14,19-23; Gal. 5:1; 1 Pet. 2:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, thank you for my freedom. Grant me a servant’s heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mill: If not Jesus, then who?

Wednesday, January 20, 2016
    Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349
Meditation:
    And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
    —Matthew 7:28-29 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is of no use to say that Christ as exhibited in the Gospels is not historical and that we know not how much of what is admirable has been superadded by the tradition of his followers... Who among his disciples or among their proselytes was capable of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus or of imagining the life and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee; as certainly not St. Paul, whose character and idiosyncrasies were of a totally different sort; still less the early Christian writers in whom nothing is more evident than that the good which was in them was all derived, as they always professed that it was derived, from the higher source.
    ... John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), Three Essays on Religion, New York: Henry Holt, 1874, p. 253-254 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:28-29; 13:54; 28:18; Mark 1:22; 6:2; Luke 4:22,32; 19:47-48; 21:12-15; John 7:15,46; 21:24-25; Heb. 4:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I hear You speaking to me in Scripture. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dibelius: God, our guide and companion

Tuesday, January 19, 2016
    Commemoration of Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 1095
Meditation:
    When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
    —Acts 14:21-22 (ESV)
Quotation:
    People who think that, if God rules the world, He should lead His church from success to success have not understood the secret of Calvary yet. God does not lead His children around hardship, but leads them straight through hardship. But He leads! And amidst the hardship, He is nearer to them than ever before.
    ... Otto Dibelius (1880-1967), from a sermon (see the book)
    See also Acts 14:21-22; Matt. 16:24; Luke 24:26; John 12:25-26; 16:33; Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 1:8-9; 3:12-13; 1 Pet. 4:12-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You go before me into every trial. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carmichael: From subtle love of softening things

Monday, January 18, 2016
    Commemoration of Amy Carmichael, Founder of the Dohnavur Fellowship, 1951
Meditation:
    We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
    —Romans 8:22-25 (NIV)
Quotation:
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified;
Not this way went the Crucified;)
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God!
    ... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), written in India, 1912, Gold Cord: the story of a fellowship, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1952, p. x (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:22-25; Ps. 104:4; Song of Solomon 8:7; 1 Thess. 5:19; Jude 1:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant in me and all those around me a zeal that burns to Your glory.

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Gore: respectable sins?

Sunday, January 17, 2016
    Feast of Antony of Egypt, Abbot, 356
    Commemoration of Charles Gore, Bishop, Teacher, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, 1932
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”
    —Mark 7:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Any such distinction between disreputable and respectable sins... Jesus Christ absolutely refuses to allow. In His eyes avarice, pride, contempt, refusal to forgive, hypocrisy, are at least as bad as fornication or adultery or violence.
    ... Charles Gore (1853-1932), Christ and Society, London: Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1928, p. 50 (see the book)
    See also Mark 7:15, Matt. 23:5-7; Mark 7:21-22; 10:42-44; 12:38-40; Luke 1:51-52; 11:43; 20:46-47; Rom. 1:29-30; 12:3-16; 1 Cor. 13:4; Phil. 2:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, forbid that I should think my sins “better” than another’s. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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