More: His law is right

Saturday, April 6, 2019
    Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564
Meditation:
The fear of the LORD is clean,
    enduring for ever:
the judgments of the LORD are true
    and righteous altogether.
    —Psalm 19:9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We are born knowing nothing and with much striving we learn but a little; yet all the while we are bound by laws that hearken to no plea of ignorance, and measure out their rewards and punishments with calm indifference. In such a state, humility is the virtue of men, and their only defense; to walk humbly with God, never doubting, whatever befall, that His will is good, and that His law is right.
    ... Paul Elmer More (1864-1937), Pages from an Oxford Diary, Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1972, c1937, excerpt included in The Questing Spirit, Halford E. Luccock & Frances Brentano, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 602 (see the book)
    See also Eccl. 8:16-17; 12:12; Mic. 6:8; Ps. 19:7-9; 1 Cor. 13:9,12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown us truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Emans: the borrowers

Friday, April 5, 2019
Meditation:
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
    —Psalm 100:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
With what presumption have we dared to voice
“Thank You for home (although we hold the deed),
Our acre, trees, and flowers (ours by choice),
Our faithful dog and cat (though it’s agreed
No one can own the latter), each good book
(A gift, or purchased), all else we foresaw
That we should cherish, and have made to look
Ours by possession (nine points of the law).”

With what presumption have we called them ours,
And even felt unselfish when we shared them—
When, if the truth be known, they have been Yours
From the beginning, Lord! You have prepared them
For us to borrow, using as our own:
So thank You, Father, for this generous loan.
    ... Elaine V. Emans
    See also Ps. 100:1-3; Job 41:11; Ps. 35:18; 50:14; 136:1-3; John 6:11; 2 Cor. 9:11; Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18; 1 Tim. 4:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant us more grateful hearts.

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Moule: all things work together for good

Thursday, April 4, 2019
Meditation:
    And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
    —Rom. 8:28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot from that situation create something that is surpassingly good. He did it at the creation. He did it at the cross. He is doing it today.
    ... Handley Moule (1841-1920) (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:28; Gen. 1:31; Matt. 27:54; Phil. 2:5-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I embrace the good that is yet to come from Your hand. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: a sub-christian reverence?

Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Meditation:
    Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
    —John 17:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility “faith;” for faith consists in the knowledge of God and Christ, not in reverence for the Church.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, III.ii.3, p. 491 (see the book)
    See also John 17:3; Prov. 2:6; Rom. 3:22; Eph. 1:15-23; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the source of all true faith. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cranfield: our kind of antinomianism

Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Meditation:
    For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
    —Jude 4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    All antinomianism is a radical denial of Christ and of God. And antinomianism is by no means merely a thing of the past. It is present wherever zeal for the Christian religion, for worship, theology, and all manner of other Church activities is unaccompanied by moral earnestness, wherever Christians can complacently and without any sense of incongruity combine piety with indifference to their neighbours’ needs and a comfortable acquiescence in social and political injustice.
    ... C. E. B. Cranfield (1915-2015), I & II Peter and Jude, London: SCM Press, 1960, p. 158 (see the book)
    See also Jude 1:4; Ps. 1:1; Rom. 6:1-2; Gal. 5:13; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 1:14; 2:16; 2 Pet. 2:4-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your law be honored everywhere. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Maurice: children

Monday, April 1, 2019
    Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Meditation:
    As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 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 2:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We do not ... cease to be children because we are disobedient children.
    ... Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), The Kingdom of Christ, 1837, p. 266-267 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 2:1-5; Matt. 13:37-39; Rom. 9:22-24; Col. 3:7-11; 1 Pet. 1:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have not deserved to be Your child. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: Lord, save me

Sunday, March 31, 2019
    Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
    —Matthew 21:44 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God who is Almighty, Alpha and Omega, First and Last, that God is also love itself; and therefore this love is Alpha and Omega, first and last too. Consider Christ’s proceeding with Peter in the ship, in the storm; first he suffered him to be in some danger in the storm, but then he visits him with that strong assurance, “Be not afraid, It is I”, any testimony of his presence rectifies all. This puts Peter into that spiritual confidence and courage, “Lord bid me come to thee;” he hath a desire to be with Christ, but yet stays his bidding: he puts not himself into an unnecessary danger, without commandment: Christ bids him, and Peter comes: but yet, though Christ were in his sight, and even in the actual exercise of his love to him, so soon as he saw a gust, a storm, “He was afraid,” and Christ lets him fear, and lets him sink, and lets him cry, but he directs his fear and his cry to the right end, “Lord, save me;” and thereupon he stretched forth his hand and saved him...
    God puts his children into good ways, and he directs and protects them in those ways; for this is the constancy and perseverance of the love of Jesus Christ to us, as he is called in this text (Matt. 21:44), a stone.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. V, London: John W. Parker, 1839, “Sermon preached to the nobility” [1619], Sermon CXVI, p. 31-32 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 21:44; 14:24-33; Mark 6:47-51; John 6:18-21; Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cannot be saved unless You save me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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