Newbigin: the quintessence of sin

Saturday, August 27, 2016
    Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
Meditation:
    And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
    —Mark 14:37-38 (KJV)
Quotation:
    If there were a righteousness which a man could have of his own, then we should have to concern ourselves with the question of how it can be imparted to him. But there is not. The idea of a righteousness of one’s own is the quintessence of sin.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998)
    See also Mark 14:37-38; Prov. 14:12; Isa. 5:21; 64:6; Matt. 5:20; 23:29-31; Luke 16:14,15; Rom. 10:3; 2 Cor. 10:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I always lift up Your richeousness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eckhart: doing vs. being

Friday, August 26, 2016
Meditation:
    For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
    —Hebrews 9:13-14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    People should think less about what they ought to do and more about what they ought to be. If only their being were good, their works would shine forth brightly. Do not imagine that you can ground your salvation upon actions; it must rest on what you are. The ground upon which good character rests is the very same ground from which man’s work derives its value, namely, a mind wholly turned to God. Verily, if you were so minded, you might tread on a stone and it would be a more pious work than if you, simply for your own profit, were to receive the Body of the Lord and were wanting in spiritual detachment.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), quoted in The Perennial Philosophy [1945], Aldous Huxley, New York: HarperCollins, 2004, p. 178 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 9:13-14; Ps. 51:7,10; 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; 1 John 1:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purge me from pursuit of dead works. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: the debt of praise

Thursday, August 25, 2016
Meditation:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
    where their voice is not heard.
    —Psalm 19:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Oh my debt of praise, how weighty it is, and how far run up! Oh, that others would lend me to pay, and teach me to praise.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Jan. 1, 1637, p. 136 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:1-3; 25:4; 51:15; Rev. 5:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me words and voice to speak Your praises. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: the price of mercy

Wednesday, August 24, 2016
    Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
    —Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV)
Quotation:
    To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian charity; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it means to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), “On Forgiveness” [1949], in Fern-seed and Elephants, Walter Hooper, Fontana, 1975, p. 43 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:12,14-15; 18:21-35; Hos. 6:6; Mark 5:25,26; Luke 6:37; 11:4; 17:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, expose my hard-heartedness, that I may learn anew the privilege of forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: the irrefutable evidence

Tuesday, August 23, 2016
    Commemoration of Rose of Lima, Contemplative, 1617
Meditation:
    For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
    —2 Peter 1:16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    I have heard professing Christians of our own day speak as though the historicity of the Gospels does not matter—all that matters is the contemporary Spirit of Christ. I contend that the historicity does matter, and I do not see why we, who live nearly two thousand years later, should call into question an Event for which there were many eye-witnesses still living at the time when most of the New Testament was written. It was no “cunningly devised fable” but an historic irruption of God into human history which gave birth to a young church so sturdy that the pagan world could not stifle or destroy it.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Ring of Truth, London: Hodder & Stoughton; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967, p. 40-41 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:2,14,17; Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 4:1,7; 1 Pet. 1:21; 2 Pet. 3:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help my unbelief! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the minimum Christian life

Monday, August 22, 2016
Meditation:
    Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
    —1 Peter 4:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If our common life is not a common course of humility, self-denial, renunciation of the world, poverty of spirit, and heavenly affection, we don’t live the lives of Christians.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 10-11 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:1-2; Rom. 15:5-6; 1 Cor. 11:1; 14:1; Gal. 5:22-23; 1 John 2:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my life does not live up to Your word. Forgive me, I pray, and grant me new grace and strength to amend my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fox: proper offerings

Sunday, August 21, 2016
Meditation:
    Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
    —Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Take care that all your offerings be free, and of your own, that has cost you something; so that ye may not offer of that which is another man’s, or that which ye are entrusted withal, and not your own.
    ... George Fox (1624-1691), Journal, v. II, Philadelphia: B. & T. Kite, 1808, p. 323 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:1-4; 8:4; 9:30; Mark 1:44; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 6:18; Heb. 13:16; 1 John 3:17-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, grant me a generous spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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