de Sales: patience

Saturday, May 7, 2016
Meditation:
    Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
    —Romans 15:2-3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    A really patient servant of God is as ready to bear inglorious troubles as those which are honorable. A brave man can easily bear with contempt, slander, and false accusations from an evil world; but to bear such injustice at the hands of good men, of friends and relations, is a great test of patience.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, III.iii, p. 137 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:2-3; Ps. 119:86; Matt. 5:10-12; Rom. 5:7-8; Jas. 5:10-11; 1 Pet. 2:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I fail in patience. Send Your Spirit to instruct me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Paton: God's will in Christian missions

Friday, May 6, 2016
Meditation:
    This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
    —Ephesians 3:12 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    The Christian Mission is thus anchored in dogma, is a result of what ordinary Christians believe. It is God’s plan, God’s activity; but because God became man and took up manhood into Himself, it is God’s will embodied in active obedience on the part of the Christian individual, the Christian group within the Church, and the Christian Church as a whole—we are all involved in it, all of us, in our various callings.
    ... David M. Paton (1913-1992), Christian Missions and the Judgment of God, London: SCM Press, 1953, p. 11 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 3:12; Rom. 5:1-2; Heb. 4:14-16; 10:19-22; 1 Thess. 4:13-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Show me what I must do, Lord, for _____ and _____, to bring them to knowledge of Your Kingdom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Paton: the mystery of Christian missions

Thursday, May 5, 2016
    Ascension
Meditation:
    To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
    —Ephesians 3:8-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The Christian Mission is what the New Testament calls a ‘mystery’. It is what St. Paul calls the mystery—a secret hidden within God even before the creation of the world, but now made known to men and women of faith, whereby all nations are to be gathered up and presented to God through Jesus Christ. This gathering up takes place in the Church, the mystical Body of Christ. The mystery has been unfolded according to a divine plan; prepared by the vocation of the Jewish people; and substantially realized by the mission of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, who by His Ascension introduced human nature for all eternity into the sphere of the life of the Divine Trinity: and this plan is to be accomplished among the various peoples of the world, during the time between Pentecost and the Second Coming. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... David M. Paton (1913-1992), Christian Missions and the Judgment of God, London: SCM Press, 1953, p. 11 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 3:8-11; Matt. 13:11; Rom. 16:25-26; 1 Cor. 2:7-10; Col. 1:26-29
Quiet time reflection:
    I bow before Your divine plan, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: following their examples

Wednesday, May 4, 2016
    Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
Meditation:
    Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
    —Philippians 4:8-9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    You go to your saint and find God working and manifest in him. He got near to God by some saint of his that went before him, or that stood beside him, in whom he saw the divine presence. That saint again lighted his fire at some flame before him; and so the power of the sainthoods animates and fills the world.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1878, p. 122 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 4:8-9; 1 Cor. 10:31-33; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2:14; 4:1-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank you for the saints who came before, that You used them to show us the right way. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Redwood: the cause of evil

Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
    —Matthew 10:41-42 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Christ] tells us plainly, and without any qualifications, that we are involved in a war in which there is no room for neutrals. Yet people attempt to evade His statement.
    Generally speaking, these are the very people who are the quickest in laying the blame upon God for all the sorrow and sin in the world. They argue that He could prevent it. They excuse their own do-nothing attitude by making of evil’s apparent predominance a ground for doubt of His loving purpose. It never seems to occur to them to look for the cause in mankind.
    ... Hugh Redwood (1883-1963), Live Coals, New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1935, p. 120 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 10:41-42; 12:30; 26:3-4; Mark 9:40-42; Acts 23:6; Eph. 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a servant’s heart, that I may add a little good to the world’s evil. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: a bad proof of rightness

Monday, May 2, 2016
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
    —Romans 14:1-4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    I am persuaded that some have scarce any better or more forcible argument to satisfy their own minds that they are in the right in religion, than the inclination they find in themselves to hate and persecute them whom they suppose to be in the wrong.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), “Indulgence and Toleration Considered” [1667], in Works of John Owen, v. XIII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 538 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 14:1-4; Isa. 40:11; Eze. 34:4; Rom. 14:21; 15:1,7; Zech. 11:16; Matt. 14:31; 18:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, allow me to see what others tolerate in me and give thanks for Your grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tournier: studying ourselves

Sunday, May 1, 2016
    Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Meditation:
    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
    —Proverbs 1:7 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Every other creature in nature is simply itself, without this discord which is our constant lot. That is why we can study everything else in nature much more surely than we can study ourselves. With ourselves, all we have to go on is an occasional glimpse of some small part of the truth, and we must be content with that, knowing that we are truly known by Him who alone knows us.
    ... Paul Tournier (1898-1986), The Meaning of Persons, New York: Harper, 1957, p. 83 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 1:7; Ps. 71:6; 111:10; Pr. 9:10; Isa. 49:5; Jer. 1:5; Gal. 1:15-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I trust You to know what is in all hearts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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