Thomas a Kempis: what we shall be asked

Saturday, February 20, 2016
    Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906
Meditation:
    And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
    —Revelation 16:7 (KJV)
Quotation:
    At the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.iii.5, p.35 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 16:7; Matt. 7:24; 12:50; Luke 6:46-48; 11:28; 12:47-48; John 13:17; Rom. 2:13; Col. 3:17; Jas. 1:22; 4:17; 1 John 2:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You rebuke my idleness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Denney: for the Kingdom of Heaven

Friday, February 19, 2016
Meditation:
Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.
    —Psalm 142:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the well-meaning: it is for the desperate.
    ... James Denney (1856-1917), quoted in The Gospel of Matthew, v. 2, William Barclay, Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1958, p. 9 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 142:6-7; 18:6; 22:2; 40:1; 44:24-26; 143:7; Matt. 8:24-26; 11:12-15; 1 John 4:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cry to You out of need. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tournier: listening to God

Thursday, February 18, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “He who has ears, let him hear.”
    —Matthew 13:9 (ESV)
Quotation:
    There are many people like us, who speak to God in prayer, but hardly ever listen to Him, or else listen to Him only vaguely.
    ... Paul Tournier (1898-1986), The Meaning of Persons, New York: Harper, 1957, p. 168 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:9; Ex. 15:26; Deut. 6:4-5; Ps. 85:8; Hab. 2:1; Heb. 12:25; Rev. 2:7,11,17,29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, speak! I am listening. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Neill: the dwelling of virtue

Wednesday, February 17, 2016
    Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
    —Matthew 6:22-23 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The will directs the tongue or the hand to act, and the evil word is spoken or the evil deed done. Every time we sin, it is the whole of us that sins, and not just a part. The body is only the instrument of the mind and the will. All that God made, including the body with all its desires and instincts, is good in itself. But it has to be kept under control and used in the right way.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), The Christian Character, London: Lutterworth Press, 1955, p. 83-84 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:22-23; Pr. 17:27; 21:23; 1 Cor. 9:25; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:4; Tit. 1:8; Jas. 1:26; 3:13; 2 Pet. 1:5-6;
Quiet time reflection:
    Teach me, Lord, to abide in Your statutes. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the school of prayer

Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Meditation:
    Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
    —Luke 11:1 (ESV)
Quotation:
    They, therefore, who are hasty in their devotions and think a little will do, are strangers both to the nature of devotion and the nature of man; they do not know that they are to learn to pray, and that prayer is to be learnt as they learn other things, by frequency, constancy, and perseverance.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Perfection [1726], London: W. Baynes, 1807, p. 283 (see the book)
    See also Luke 11:1; Ps. 10:17-18; 19:14; Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:5-10; 18:2-7; John 14:13-14; Rom. 8:26-27; Jas. 4:2-3; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to pray. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: pride is the obstacle

Monday, February 15, 2016
    Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730
Meditation:
He hath shewed strength with his arm;
    he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
    and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
    and the rich he hath sent empty away.
    —Luke 1:51-53 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Don’t imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he won’t be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who’s always telling you that, of course, he’s nobody. Probably all you’ll think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility; he won’t be thinking about himself at all. There I must stop. If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you’re not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Christian Behavior, London: Geoffrey Bles, Macmillan, 1943, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Luke 1:51-53; Pr. 13:10; Matt. 5:6; Mark 12:38-40
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, drive my pride away. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cary: the fear of God

Sunday, February 14, 2016
    Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
    Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269
Meditation:
The law of the LORD is perfect,
    converting the soul:
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
    making wise the simple.
The statutes of the LORD are right,
    rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
    enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean,
    enduring for ever:
the judgments of the LORD are true
    and righteous altogether.
    —Psalm 19:7-9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    My father had never lost his temper with us, never beaten us, but we had for him that feeling often described as fear, which is something quite different and far deeper than alarm. It was that sense which, without irreverence, I have thought to find expressed by the great evangelists when they speak of the fear of God. One does not fear God because He is terrible, but because He is literally the soul of goodness and truth, because to do Him wrong is to do wrong to some mysterious part of oneself, and one does not know exactly what the consequences may be.
    ... Joyce Cary (1888-1957), Except the Lord, London: Michael Joseph, 1953, reprint, New Directions Publishing, 1985, p. 47 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:7-9; Gen. 22:12; Ps. 34:8-9,11-14; 111:10; 112:1; Pr. 1:7; 9:10; Eccl. 12:13; John 14:6; 1 Pet. 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me away from lawlessness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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