Wilberforce: a false economy

Saturday, July 30, 2016
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
    —Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV)
Quotation:
    It is indeed a most lamentable consequence of the practice of regarding religion as a compilation of statutes, and not as an internal principle, that it soon comes to be considered as being conversant about external actions rather than about habits of mind. This sentiment sometimes has even the hardiness to insinuate and maintain itself under the guise of extraordinary concern for practical religion; but it soon discovers the falsehood of this pretension, and betrays its real nature. The expedient indeed of attaining to superiority in practice, by not wasting any of the attention on the internal principles from which alone practice can flow, is about as reasonable, and will answer about as well, as the economy of the architect, who should account it mere prodigality to expend any of his materials in laying foundations, from an idea that they might be more usefully applied to the rising of the superstructure. We know what would be the fate of such ! an edifice.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 167 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:24-27; Luke 6:48-49; 14:28-30; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; Eph. 2:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make a strong foundation in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: following the Spirit

Friday, July 29, 2016
    Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
    —Acts 1:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ had given the apostles a world-wide commission, embracing all the nations; but intellectually they did not understand what He meant. They found that out as they followed the impulse of the Spirit.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World, London: Oxford University Press, 1917, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also Acts 1:8; John 14:26; 16:13; Acts 15:28; 1 Cor. 2:9-13; 1 John 2:27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit hovers over all that is done for Your sake. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bergman: art and worship

Thursday, July 28, 2016
    Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750
Meditation:
All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your saints shall bless you!
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power...
    —Psalm 145:10-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is my opinion that art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship. It severed an umbilical cord... In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God...
    Today the individual has become the highest form and the greatest bane of artistic creation.
    ... Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007), The Seventh Seal, Lorrimer, 1984, introduction, p. 8 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 145:10-11; Rom. 1:20-21; Gal. 6:3; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    All beauty is Your beauty, O Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: a two-footed stance

Wednesday, July 27, 2016
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901
    Commemoration of John R. W. Stott, spiritual writer and teacher, 2011
Meditation:
    Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
    —Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The loving service which God sends His people into the world to render includes both evangelism and social action, for each is in itself an authentic expression of love, and neither needs the other to justify it.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Christian Mission in the Modern World, London: Falcon; Downers Grove: IVP, 1975, p. 109 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 2:10; 2 Tim. 4:2; Heb. 13:16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me boldness in speaking and living the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dodd: Paul on baptism

Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Meditation:
    What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
    —Romans 6:1-3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Paul] makes use of the symbolism of baptism, which in the East was performed by the complete immersion of the believer in water. “We were buried with Christ through our baptism (and so entered) into a state of death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the splendour of the Father, we too might walk in the newness which belongs to (real) life.” To the rite as such Paul did not attach overwhelming importance. “Christ,” he says, “did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.” ... Paul recognized in the idea a most suggestive figure for the change wrought by faith in Christ. He found it necessary to guard against the crude sacramentalism which found in the mere physical process, as such, the actual impartation of new life, quite apart from anything taking place in the realm of inward experience. The Israelites in the wilderness ... received baptism in the Red Sea and in the cloud which overshadowed them; and yet they were disobedient, “the majority of them God did not choose,” and they perished miserably. The inference is plain. No sacramental act achieves anything unless it is an outward symbol of what really happens inwardly in experience. The test of that is the reality of the new life as exhibited in its ethical consequences. “How can we who are dead to sin live any longer in sin?” If baptism is a real dying and rising again, then it is indeed a profound revolution in the personal life, a revolution which is simply bound to! show itself in a new moral character.
    ... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), The Meaning of Paul for Today, London: Swarthmore, 1920, reprint, Fount Paperbacks, 1978, p. 118-119 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:1-11; 1 Cor. 1:1-11,13-17; 10:1-5; Col. 2:10-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we acknowledge Your power and grace in sacraments, as You directed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: faith from need

Monday, July 25, 2016
    Feast of James the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.”
    —John 6:44-45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That faith alone will never forsake Christ which springs out of or is built upon a conviction of the [need for] Him.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), Nature and Causes of Apostasy from the Gospel [1676], in Works of John Owen, v. VII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 146 (see the book)
    See also John 6:44-45; Matt. 9:20-22; John 10:27-28; 12:37-40; 2 Thess. 2:9-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I know how great is my need for Christ? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: reading the Scriptures

Sunday, July 24, 2016
    Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471
Meditation:
    Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...
    —Luke 24:44-45 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Truth, not eloquence, is to be sought for in Holy Scripture. Each part of the Scripture is to be read with the same Spirit wherewith it was written. We should rather search after profit in Scriptures, than subtilty of speech. We ought to read plain and devout books as willingly as high and profound. Let not the authority of the writer offend thee, whether he be of great or small learning; but let the love of pure truth draw thee to read. Search not who spoke this or that, but mark what is spoken. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.v.1, p. 37 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:44-45; Matt. 6:25-34; Mark 12:36; John 5:39-40; Acts 17:11; Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 John 4:4-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Send Your Spirit to open the Scriptures to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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