Schaeffer: a conscious defense

Saturday, November 24, 2018
Meditation:
    Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
    —1 Timothy 6:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The defense, for myself and for those for whom I am responsible, must be a conscious defense. We cannot assume that, because we are Christians in the full biblical sense, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, automatically we shall be free from the influence of what surrounds us. The Holy Spirit can do what He will, but the Bible does not separate His work from knowledge; nor does the work of the Holy Spirit remove our responsibility as parents, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, or teachers.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The God Who is There [1968], in The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy, Good News Publishers, 1990, p. 152 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 6:12; Deut. 4:9; 11:19; Eph. 6:4; Col. 4:6; 2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14-15; 1 Pet. 3:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen my mind for the work You have placed before me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: what Christ does for a soul

Friday, November 23, 2018
    Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100
Meditation:
    How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
    —Hebrews 9:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What exactly has Christ done for you? What is there in your life that needs Christ to explain it, and that, apart from Him, simply could not have been there at all? If there is nothing, then your religion is a sheer futility. But then that is your fault, not Jesus Christ’s. For, when we open the New Testament, it is to come upon whole companies of excited people, their faces all aglow, their hearts dazed and bewildered by the immensity of their own good fortune. Apparently they find it difficult to think of anything but this amazing happening that has befallen them; quite certainly they cannot keep from laying almost violent hands on every chance passer-by, and pouring out yet once again the whole astounding story. And always, as we listen, they keep throwing up their hands as if in sheer despair, telling us it is hopeless, that it breaks through language, that it won’t describe, that until a man has known Christ for himself he can have no idea of the enormous difference He makes. It is as when a woman gives a man her heart; or when a little one is born to very you; or when, after long lean years of pain and greyness, health comes back. You cannot really describe that; you cannot put it into words, not adequately. Only, the whole world is different, and life gloriously new. Well, it is like that, they say.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), From the Edge of the Crowd, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1924, p. 1-2 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 9:11-14; Rom. 9:22-24; Gal. 2:20; Heb. 13:20-21; 2 Pet. 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank You, Lord, for my new life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: the victims of man's wrath

Thursday, November 22, 2018
    Commemoration of Cecilia, Martyr at Rome, c.230
    Commemoration of Clive Staples Lewis, Spiritual Writer, 1963
    Thanksgiving (U.S.)
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
    —Matthew 5:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One man may be so placed that his anger sheds the blood of thousands, and another so placed that however angry he gets he will only be laughed at. But the little mark on the soul may be much the same in both. Each has done something to himself which, unless he repents, will make it harder for him to keep out of the rage the next time he is tempted, and will make the rage worse when he does fall into it. Each of them, if he seriously turns to God, can have that twist in the central man straightened out again: each is, in the long run, doomed if he will not.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 93 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:21-22; Ps. 37:8; Eph. 4:26; 1 Tim. 2:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bring me to repentance for my anger once again. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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O'Brien: pagan Christianity

Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Meditation:
    Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
    —2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When we put our confidence in our human formulations regarding how God acts in the world, it’s easy to start thinking in terms of how we can be sure he’ll behave the way we need him to. Anything that hinders us from recognizing that God acts freely out of love for his creation is dangerous, pagan Christianity.
    ... Brandon O’Brien, in a Christianity Today editorial, Sept. 3, 2010 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 29:13; Hos. 1:9-10; Matt. 15:3-9; Mark 7:6-13; John 3:16-17; Rom. 9:15-18,22-24; 2 Thess. 2:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your will eternally prevail over mine. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: conscience

Tuesday, November 20, 2018
    Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870
    Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England, 1876
Meditation:
    Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.
    —2 Corinthians 1:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We take nothing to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience... It is true, terrors of conscience cast us down; and yet without terrors of conscience we cannot be raised up again.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Feb. 2, 1632, p. 166 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 1:12; Rom. 2:14-15; 1 Tim. 1:3-5; Heb. 10:19-22; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, conform my conscience to your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mechthild: to be true to Thee

Monday, November 19, 2018
    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:
    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
    —2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Lord, since Thou hast taken from me all that I had of Thee, yet of Thy grace leave me the gift which every dog has by nature: that of being true to Thee in my distress, when I am deprived of all consolation.
    ... Mechthild of Magdeburg (ca. 1212-ca. 1282), The Revelations of Mechthild of Magdeburg, Longmans, Green, 1953, p. 55 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 1:3-6; Ps. 32:7; 34:2-6; Isa. 40:1; Phil. 1:14; Heb. 12:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my consolation always. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Studd: funds are low

Sunday, November 18, 2018
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
    —Matthew 6:25-26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Funds are low again, hallelujah! That means God trusts us and is willing to leave His reputation in our hands.
    ... C. T. Studd (1860-1931)
    See also Matt. 6:25-26; Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:31-34; Luke 10:40-42; 12:22-29; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 13:5-6; 1 Pet. 5:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cast worry out of my heart, so that I may rely completely on Your grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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