Tillotson: happy beyond desire

Saturday, November 19, 2016
    Feast of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680
    Commemoration of Elizabeth, Princess of Hungary, Philanthropist, 1231
    Commemoration of Mechtild, Bèguine of Magdeburg, Mystic, Prophet, 1280
Meditation:
    For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
    —1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If He hath promised to make us happy, though He hath not particularly declared to us wherein this happiness shall consist; yet we may trust Him that made us to find out ways to make us happy; and may believe, that He who made us, without our knowledge or desire is able to make us happy beyond them both.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IV, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon LXXVIII, p. 465 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 1:4-7; Isa. 57:1-2; Matt. 5:12; Luke 6:23; Acts 5:41; 2 Cor. 4:17; 5:8; Phil. 1:21; Rev. 14:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I know I can never go back. I know that I could never again be truly happy without you. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Thomas a Kempis: the need to begin

Friday, November 18, 2016
Meditation:
    So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
    —John 8:31-32 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If we would put some slight stress on ourselves at the beginning, then afterwards we should be able to do all things with ease and joy.
    It is a hard thing to break through habit, and a yet harder thing to go contrary to our own will. Yet, if thou overcome not slight and easy obstacles, how shalt thou overcome greater ones? Withstand thy will at the beginning, and unlearn an evil habit, lest it lead thee little by little into worse difficulties. Oh, if thou knewest what peace to thyself thy holy life should bring, and what joy to others, methinketh thou wouldst be more zealous for spiritual profit.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xi.5, p. 45-46 (see the book)
    See also John 8:31-32; 1 Sam. 12:14; Matt. 24:12-13; John 15:4-8; Rom. 2:7; 1 Thess. 3:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I prefer my own luxury to Your call. Make me see the Your truth that I might have freedom from my own evil will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Patmore: goodwill

Thursday, November 17, 2016
    Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200
Meditation:
    Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
    —Galatians 2:10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Nothing is so easy to men of goodwill as goodwill itself, and this is all that God requires. Every act of goodwill permanently and sensibly increases goodwill. Trifling acts of goodwill are often more efficacious in this way than great ones. A flower given in kindness and at the right time profits more, both to giver and receiver, than some vast material benefit in which the goodwill is hidden by the magnitude of the act. Some little, sensible, individual touch from the hand of Our Lord may convert the heart more than the contemplation of His death for us.
    ... Coventry Patmore (1823-1896), The Rod, the Root, and the Flower [1895], London: G. Bell and Sons, 1907, p. 225-226 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 2:10; Matt. 5:39-44; Rom. 15:25-27; 2 Cor. 9:7-9; Heb. 13:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, for one who is considering You, may I forget nothing that might help. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Weinel: without God and with

Wednesday, November 16, 2016
    Feast of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, Philanthropist, Reformer of the Church, 1093
    Commemoration of Edmund Rich of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1240
Meditation:
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.
    —Psalm 42:11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As a man increases in moral strength of character, so his conscience becomes more sensitive; he realises more keenly the distance that separates him from the ideal, and hence the weight of the feeling of guiltiness oppresses him ever more heavily. Growth in goodness does not, therefore, necessarily imply increased happiness; on the contrary, it may mean greater unhappiness. And his unhappiness increasing in proportion to the elevation of his ethical standard, a man’s end is either Buddha or suicide if he knows no God; while if he knows God, it is despair or that conversion which, having sobbed away its tears on the Father’s breast, thence derives ever new strength to fight the battle of life, sure of the final victory.
    ... Heinrich Weinel (1874-1936), St. Paul, the Man and His Work, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1906, p. 92-93 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 42:11; Isa. 58:1; Luke 24:47; John 3:16-17; Acts 2:38; 17:30-31; 2 Cor. 7:10; Eph. 2:8-9; 1 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I lean on Your strength. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Muggeridge: communicating the Gospel

Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Meditation:
    Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
    —1 John 4:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian religion finds expression thus, in the love of those who love Christ, more comprehensibly and accessibly than in metaphysical or ethical statements. It is an experience rather than a conclusion, a way of life rather than an ideology; [it is] grasped through the imagination rather than understood through the mind, belonging to the realm of spiritual rather than intellectual perception; reaching quite beyond the dimension of words and ideas.
    ... Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Something Beautiful for God: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, London: Collins, 1971, p. 127 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:11-12; John 13:34-35; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; 1 Cor. 13:13; 1 John 2:5-6; 3:24; 4:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your Spirit animate Your church to Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

John Chrysostom: humility

Monday, November 14, 2016
    Commemoration of Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796
Meditation:
    For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
    —Romans 12:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407) (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:3; Pr. 16:18-19; 26:12; Mic. 6:8; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Gal. 6:3; Phil. 2:3-4; Jas. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my pride is the enemy of the humility that is Your desire for me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Law: Creation's law and order

Sunday, November 13, 2016
    Feast of Charles Simeon, Pastor, Teacher, 1836
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
    —Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The one supreme, unchangeable rule of love, which is a law to all intelligent beings of all worlds, and will be a law to all eternity is this, viz., that God alone is to be loved for himself, and all other beings only in him and for him. Whatever intelligent creature lives not under this rule of love, is so far fallen from the order of his creation, and is, till he returns to his eternal law of love, an apostate from God, and incapable of the kingdom of heaven.
    Now if God alone is to be loved for himself, then no creature is to be loved for itself; and so all self-love in every creature is absolutely condemned.
    And if all created beings are only to be loved in and for God, then my neighbour is to be loved, as I love myself, and I am only to love myself, as I love my neighbour, or any other created being, that is, only in and for God.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 74 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 22:37-39; Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 30:6; Lev. 19:18; Mark 12:29-33; Luke 10:27; 1 John 5:2-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant in my heart the love You have for my neighbor. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth