Luccock: the Gospel vs. good advice

Saturday, June 18, 2016
Meditation:
    ... but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
    —Romans 9:31-33 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The Christian message is not an exhortation—“try hard to be good.” Good advice, but there is no saving gospel in that.
    ... Halford E. Luccock (1885-1960), Marching Off the Map, NY: Harper & Bros., 1952, p. 110 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 9:31-33; Eph. 2:8,9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:4-7; Jas. 2:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I judge by works fifty times a day. Holy Spirit, speak grace into my heart and mind. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Meister Eckhart: the nearness of God

Friday, June 17, 2016
    Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936
Meditation:
    No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
    —1 John 4:12-13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    I have a capacity in my soul for taking in God entirely. I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Meister Eckhart’s Sermons, tr., Claud Field, H. R. Allenson, London, 1909, p. 19-20 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:12-13; Luke 17:20-21; Rom. 8:9-17; Gal. 4:6; 1 John 3:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are nearer to me than my breath. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Schaeffer: bringing healing

Thursday, June 16, 2016
    Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253
    Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Moral Philosopher, 1752
Meditation:
    We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
    —Romans 15:1 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Only the one who has been hurt can bring healing. The other person cannot. It is the one who has been hurt who has to be willing to be hurt again to show love, if there is to be hope that healing will come.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer: Spiritual Reality in the Personal Christian, Good News Publishers, 1986, p. 226 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:1; Isa. 35:3-4; 40:29-31; 53:7; Rom. 14:1; 1 Cor. 125; 9:22; 2 Cor. 12:9; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 3:16; Heb. 2:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You were wounded for my sake. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: the talent of love

Wednesday, June 15, 2016
    Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.&rsq! uo; And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more b! e given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
    —Matthew 25:14-29 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If we do not at least try to manifest something of Creative Charity in our dealings with life, whether by action, thought, or prayer, and do it at our own cost—if we roll up the talent of love in the nice white napkin of piety and put it safely out of the way, sorry that the world is so hungry and thirsty, so sick and so fettered, and leave it at that: then, even that little talent may be taken from us. We may discover at the crucial moment that we are spiritually bankrupt.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The School of Charity, New York: Longmans, Green, 1934, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1991, p. 106 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 25:14-29; Isa. 57:12; John 6:63; 12:42-43; 1 Cor. 13:1-3; Jas. 2:14-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, love cost You so much. May I never begrudge the small price of love in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baxter: the sum of the universe

Tuesday, June 14, 2016
    Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691
Meditation:
    He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
    —2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As the enjoyment of God is the heaven of the saints, so the loss of God is the hell of the ungodly. And, as the enjoying of God is the enjoying of all, so the loss of God is the loss of all.
    ... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, v. XXII, ed. William Orme, London: J. Duncan, 1830, p. 368 (see the book)
    See also 2 Thess. 1:8-10; Ps. 4:6; 21:6; 30:5; 63:3; Matt. 7:22-23; Phil. 1:23; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted Your people knowledge of ultimate reality. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chesterton: inner vs. outer light

Monday, June 13, 2016
    Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
Meditation:
    All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
    —Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That Jones shall worship the “god within him” turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy, London, New York: John Lane Company, 1909, p. 138-139 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 64:6; Luke 18:9-14; 2 Cor. 10:17,18; Gal. 6:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my inner light is all darkness. I thank you and praise You for bringing light to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: being disciples of Christ

Sunday, June 12, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
    —John 14:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Then are we the servants of God, then are we the disciples of Christ, when we do what is commanded us, and because it is commanded us.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), V.3 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 605 (see the book)
    See also John 14:15; Isa. 29:13-14; Luke 14:26-27; John 14:21-24; 15:10-14; 1 Cor. 16:22; 1 John 2:3; 5:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me into the path of obedience. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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