Fuller: living according to belief

Saturday, July 28, 2018
    Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750
Meditation:
    Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
    —Mark 9:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He does not believe, that does not live according to his belief.
    ... Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), Gnomologia, London: B. Barker, 1732, p. 71 (see the book)
    See also Mark 9:24; Matt. 7:16-20; 12:33; 1 John 5:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I stand convicted. I pray for forgiveness and ask You to drive belief deeper into my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: we have the means

Friday, July 27, 2018
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901
    Commemoration of John R. W. Stott, spiritual writer and teacher, 2011
Meditation:
    ... for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
    —Ephesians 5:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have the means to evangelize our country; but they are slumbering in the pews of our churches.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011)
    See also Eph. 5:14; Isa. 9:2; Rom. 13:11-12; 1 Thess. 5:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, awaken Your people to the need for Christ everywhere. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Earle: the source of authenticity

Thursday, July 26, 2018
Meditation:
    For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you.
    —2 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It was the experience of the disciples who knew Jesus both before and after the Resurrection, and the conviction which they communicated to others, that laid the foundation of faith. This faith, once given, proved to be—like the Person who gave rise to it—essentially self-authenticating. And ever since, the Church has looked to the Cross, a symbol of weakness, as its unique source of power in preaching the Gospel, its authority both to teach and to preach has been of this kind. No amount of liaison between the Church and the source of any other authority, political or moral, must be allowed to obscure the simplicity—and the mystery—of the authority of Christ.
    ... Nick Earle (1926-2014), What’s Wrong with the Church?, Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1961, p. 18 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:6; 28:18; Acts 2:22-28; 1 Cor. 1:17-18; 15:6-8; 2 Cor. 13:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your church look for direction only to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Erasmus: works do not make you pious

Wednesday, July 25, 2018
    Feast of James the Apostle
Meditation:
    Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
    —Romans 14:13-15
Quotation:
    Paul does not forbid you to use rites and ceremonies, but it is not his wish that he who is free in Christ should be bound by them. He does not condemn the law of works if only one use it lawfully. Without these things perhaps you will not be pious; but they do not make you pious.
    ... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), in A History of Christian Thought, v. II [1932], A. C. McGiffert, New York, London: C. Scribner’s sons, 1960, p. 387 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 14:13-15,21; 1 Cor. 8:7-13; Eph. 2:8,9
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I honoring some religious practices above love and consideration for the brethren? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: self-determination?

Tuesday, July 24, 2018
    Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471
Meditation:
    Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
    —Galatians 6:1,2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xvi.2, p. 52 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 6:1-2; Matt. 8:17; Rom. 15:1; Gal. 5:13-14; 1 Thess. 5:14; 1 Pet. 2:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, quench the evil thoughts that wish for my own way. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: truth and holiness

Monday, July 23, 2018
    Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373
Meditation:
    Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
    —2 Corinthians 7:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Sometimes truth is lost first in a church, and then holiness and sometimes the decay or hatred of holiness is the cause of the loss of truth; but where either is rejected, the other will not abide.
    ... 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. 199 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 7:1; Matt. 5:48; 1 Cor. 6:18-20; Gal. 1:6-7; Eph. 4:11-13; Phil. 3:18-19; 1 Pet. 1:15-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me what I must do to live out truth and holiness before my church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Reardon: praying against principalities and powers

Sunday, July 22, 2018
    Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles
Meditation:
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies—
    make straight your way before me.
    —Psalm 5:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To relinquish any of the Psalms on the excuse that its sentiments are too violent for a Christian is a clear sign that a person has also given up the very battle that a Christian is summoned ... to fight. The Psalms are prayers for those who are engaged in an ongoing spiritual conflict. No one else need bother even opening the book.
    ... Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms, Ben Lomond, California: Conciliar Press:, 2000, p. 6 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 5:8-10; 109:9-20; 140:1-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, arm me against unbelief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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