Nida: the Word in its place

Saturday, August 18, 2018
Meditation:
    For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
    —Romans 15:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    (Peter) Waldo, a business-man in Lyons, France, in about A.D. 1170 became intensely curious as to the content of the Scriptures. But he could not read Latin, and so the Scriptures were a closed book to him. However, he hired two money-minded priests, who, in violation of strict regulations, translated the Bible for him into Provençal, the language of southern France. The content of the Word of God made such an impression upon this earnest man that he gave up his business, took upon himself a vow of poverty, and dedicated himself to the simple preaching of the contents of God’s Word...
    The Latin of the Church only mystified its hearers [but] Waldo’s humble preaching edified the souls of men. His words were not spectacular but powerful, as he pleaded with them to repent. Much of his preaching and that of his followers consisted in reciting long passages of Scripture in the vernacular. Many of them could not afford an expensive handwritten copy of the Bible, and the ecclesiastical authorities could too easily rob them of such a book; but they could not erase the words which were treasured in the heart.
    ... Eugene A. Nida (1914-2011), God’s Word in Man’s Language, New York: Harper, 1952, p. 82-83 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:4; 4:23-24; 1 Cor. 10:9-11; 2 Cor. 3:3; 2 Pet. 1:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have gifted Your word to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Edwards: the last hour

Friday, August 17, 2018
Meditation:
On my bed I remember you;
    I think of you through the watches of the night.
    —Psalm 63:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.
    ... Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), in the introductory essay for The Works of Jonathan Edwards, A.M., v. I, London: William Ball., 1839, p. xviii (see the book)
    See also Ps. 63:6; 119:147-148; Lam. 2:19; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Rev. 10:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are present in my thoughts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: rejoice in God alone

Thursday, August 16, 2018
Meditation:
    Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
    —Exodus 34:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Think [it] not hard if ye get not your will, nor your delights in this life; God will have you to rejoice in nothing but himself.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Feb 1, 1630, p. 17 (see the book)
    See also Ex. 34:14; Deut. 5:7; Ps. 43:4; Rom. 7:21; Rev. 4:10-11; 22:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have driven all the other gods of my life away. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Arnold: access to Christ

Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Meditation:
    Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
    —Hebrews 10:19-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Of the access for us, at any rate, to the spirit of life, us who were born in Christendom, and are in touch, conscious or unconscious, with Christianity, this is the true account. Questions over which the churches spend so much labour and time—questions about the Trinity, about the godhead of Christ, about the procession of the Holy Ghost—are not vital; what is vital is the doctrine of access to the spirit of life through Jesus.
    ... Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), (first printed in Fortnightly Review, 1887) Works of Matthew Arnold, v. IV, London: Macmillan, 1903, p. 210 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 10:19-22; John 14:6,16-17; 15:26; 16:13; 20:22; Rom. 8:26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone are the source of life, and You have breathed it upon me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Zinzendorf: one passion

Tuesday, August 14, 2018
    Commemoration of Maximilian Kolbe, Franciscan Friar, Priest, Martyr, 1941
Meditation:
    [Jesus] told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
    —Luke 24:46-48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I have but one passion—it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field, and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.
    ... Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), quoted in Living Abundantly, Kirby Page, Farrar & Rinehart, Incorporated, 1944, p. 322 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:46-48; Acts 4:18-20; 13:47; 1 Cor. 9:22; 12:3; 16:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Send me, Lord, with Your word for dying sinners. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: endurance for His sake

Monday, August 13, 2018
    Feast of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down & Connor, Priest, Teacher, 1667
    Commemoration of Florence Nightingale, Social Reformer, 1910
    Commemoration of Octavia Hill, Worker for the Poor, 1912
Meditation:
    Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
    —James 5:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [From an old Jewish story] When Abraham sat at his tent door, according to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travail, coming towards him, who was a hundred years of age; he received him kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, caused him to sit down; but observing that the old man ate and prayed not, nor begged a blessing on his meat, he asked him why he did not worship the God of heaven. The old man told him that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God. At which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the night, and an unguarded condition. When the old man was gone, God called to Abraham, and asked him where the stranger was. He replied, “I thrust him away, because he did not worship thee.” God answered him, “I have suffered him these hundred years , though he dishonoured me; and wouldst thou not endure him one night?”
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), The Liberty of Prophesying [1647], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. VIII, London: C. & J Rivington, 1828, p. 232 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 5:10-11; Job 1:22; 13:15; Matt. 5:11-12; 23:34-37; Luke 13:34-35; Acts 7:52; Heb. 11:32-38
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cast out my self-righteousness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Richardson: religion and ideology

Sunday, August 12, 2018
Meditation:
    Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
    —John 18:36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Ideological notions are strongest amongst people who have lost their traditional religious faith, and they provide a kind of pseudo-religion to take its place. Ideology may well be defined as religion-substitute. The fact that religious faith always expresses itself in the particular ideological forms current in any given period is no reason why we should confuse religion with ideology; and, even though it requires a penetrating and candid investigation to distinguish between the genuinely religious and the merely ideological elements in the outlook of a particular period or individual, this does not mean that religion itself is an aspect of ideology. The core of religious belief is not ideological, whatever may be said of the soft pulp in which it is often wrapped up.
    ... Alan Richardson (1905-1975), Christian Apologetics, London: SCM Press, 1947, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also John 18:36; Matt. 8:2-4; 16:20; 17:9; Mark 1:34,43-44; Luke 4:41; 5:14; John 7:17-18; 12:49
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep my attention on You, not ideas. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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