Rutherford: rich in grace

Saturday, March 23, 2019
Meditation:
    But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
    —Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every man thinketh he is rich enough in grace, till he take out his purse, and... then he findeth it but poor and light in the day of a heavy trial. I found I had not enough to bear my expenses, and I should have fainted, if want and penury had not chased me to the store-house of all.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Feb. 20, 1637, p. 193 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 2:4-5; Acts 15:11; Rom. 3:24; Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 2:11; 3:4-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You distribute Your grace lavishly. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: He is here

Friday, March 22, 2019
Meditation:
    Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
    —Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The reason we can hope to find God is that He is here, engaged all the time in finding us. Every gleam of beauty is a pull toward Him. Every pulse of love is a tendril that draws us in His direction. Every verification of truth links the finite mind up into a Foundational Mind that undergirds us. Every deed of good will points toward a consummate Goodness which fulfills all our tiny adventures in faith. We can find Him because in Him we live and move and have our being.
    ... Rufus M. Jones (1863-1948), Pathways to the Reality of God, New York: Macmillan, 1931, p. xi-xii (see the book)
    See also Ps. 139:7-12; Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:28; Heb. 7:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have planted signs of Your presence everywhere. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carmichael: trials

Wednesday, March 20, 2019
    Feast of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687
Meditation:
    My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
    —James 1:2-3 (KJV)
Quotation:
    If I ask to be delivered from trial rather than for deliverance out of it, to the praise of His glory; if I forget that the way of the Cross leads to the Cross and not to a bank of flowers; if I regulate my life on these lines, or even unconsciously my thinking, so that I am surprised when the way is rough and think it strange, “Think it not strange, Count it all joy,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
    ... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), If [1938], London: SPCK, 1961, p. 66 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:2-3; 1 Cor. 3:12-13; 10:13; 1 Thess. 3:2-4; 2 Tim. 3:12; Heb. 12:2,5-7; 1 Pet. 4:12; 5:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant Your love in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dodd: law

Monday, March 18, 2019
Meditation:
    (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
    —Romans 2:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have observed that in at least two cases the sayings of our Lord imply an appeal behind the Law of Moses to the order of creation. While, therefore, the Law of Moses is from one aspect the first stage of revelation, leading up to the Law of Christ, in another aspect it is a temporary expedient on the way from the Law of Nature to the Law of Christ, serving certain limited purposes, which fulfilled, it may be set aside, leaving mankind in Christ confronted by the original law of his creation.
    ... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), New Testament Studies, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1953, p. 141 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 2:14-15; Jer. 31:31-34; 2 Cor. 3:3; Gal. 3:15-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have written Your law on my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: How it looks to God

Sunday, March 17, 2019
    Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
Meditation:
    You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
    —Isaiah 64:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If... you are ever tempted to think that we modern Western Europeans cannot really be so very bad because we are, comparatively speaking, humane—if, in other words, you think God might be content with us on that ground—ask yourself whether you think God ought to have been content with the cruelty of past ages because they excelled in courage or chastity. You will see at once that this is an impossibility. From considering how the cruelty of our ancestors looks to us, you may get some inkling of how our softness, worldliness, and timidity would have looked to them, and hence how both must look to God.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Problem of Pain, New York: Macmillan, 1944, p. 52 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 64:5-6; Gen. 3:21; Ps. 51:5; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 7:18; Eph. 2:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Without You, Lord, I know nothing but sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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