Allen: the meaning of Baptism

Saturday, July 20, 2019
    Commemoration of Bartolomè de las Casas, Apostle to the Indies, 1566
Meditation:
    For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
    —1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This total and entire conversion of the inner man, this absolute doing away of the old and acceptance of the new life, being in its nature a real breach and not a formal one, necessarily involved a corresponding outward breach with the old form of life. Of this breach baptism was the sacrament. In baptism the change was effected and realized in fact. Baptism was not a mere formal external act, a symbol of a spiritual fact which was already complete without it. A Spiritual conversion which was not also a conversion of life was no conversion at all, but a delusion... With the heart man believes, with the mouth he confesses; but a mouth which does not confess disproves the existence of a heart that believes. The soul cannot be God’s and the life not God’s at the same time. The soul can not be recreated and the life remain unchanged. The spiritual breach is proved and realized and completed in the outward breach. Where there is no outward change, it is safe to deny an inward change. Faith without baptism and all that baptism involved was consequently no part of St. Paul’s teaching.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 71-72 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:3-4; 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:13; Col. 2:11-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have baptized my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: natural delight in religion

Friday, July 19, 2019
    Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379
Meditation:
    In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
    —1 Corinthians 11:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When religion is in the hands of the mere natural man, he is always the worse for it; it adds a bad heat to his own dark fire, and helps to inflame his four elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath. And hence it is that worse passions, or a worse degree of them, are to be found in persons of great religious zeal, than in others that made no pretences to it. History also furnishes us with instances of persons of great piety and devotion, who have fallen into great delusions, and deceived both themselves and others. The occasion of their fall was this: ... They considered their whole nature, as the subject of religion, and divine graces; and therefore their religion was according to the workings of their whole nature, and the old man was as busy, and as much delighted in it, as the new.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Regeneration [1739], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. V, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 168 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 11:18-19; Matt. 23:25-26; Eph. 4:17-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You must help me to crucify the old man. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: the profundity of the Scriptures

Thursday, July 18, 2019
Meditation:
    Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
    —Romans 11:33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Wonderful is the depth of thy words, whose surface is before us, gently leading on the little ones: and yet a wonderful deepness, O my God, a wonderful deepness. It is awe to look into it; even an awfulness of honour, and a trembling of love.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, XII.xiv, p. 328 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 11:33; Ps. 31:19; 107:15; 139:1-6; Eph. 3:8,16-19; Col. 1:27; 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word pierces my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Willard: a conversational relationship with God

Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Meditation:
    We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
    —1 John 4:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our union with God—his presence with us, in which our aloneness is banished and the meaning and full purpose of human existence is realized—consists chiefly in a conversational relationship with God while we are each consistently and deeply engaged as his friend and colaborer in the affairs of the kingdom of the heavens.
    ... Dallas Willard (1935-2013), Hearing God, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:37-38; 1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 John 4:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I rejoice that I am no longer alone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Smith: resting in grace

Tuesday, July 16, 2019
    Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
    —John 14:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Once I knew what it was to rest upon the rock of God’s promises, and it was indeed a precious resting place, but now I rest in His grace. He is teaching me that the bosom of His love is a far sweeter resting-place than even the rock of His promises.
    ... Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), Christian’s Secret of a Holy Life, M. E. Dieter, ed., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan 1994, p. 27 (see the book)
    See also John 14:18; Hos. 6:3; Matt. 18:20; 28:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your constant presence feeds Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eckhart: outward and visible signs

Monday, July 15, 2019
    Commemoration of Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, c.862
    Commemoration of Bonaventure, Franciscan Friar, Bishop, Peacemaker, 1274
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
    —Luke 6:43-45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Outward as well as inward morality helps to form the idea of a true Christian freedom. We are right to lay stress on inwardness, but in this world there is no inwardness without an outward expression.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Meister Eckhart’s Sermons, tr., Claud Field, H. R. Allenson, London, 1909, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:43-45; Matt. 5:21-22; 27-28; 7:16-20; 12:33; 1 Cor. 15:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purge me of evil, that my life may bear fruit pleasing to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Herzog: the "social" Christ

Sunday, July 14, 2019
    Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866
Meditation:
    But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
    —2 Timothy 4:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One of the catchwords in contemporary Protestantism is that religion must aid man in “becoming human” or even “truly human,” whatever that means, and the “model” is Christ. Take the “obvious things” about Christ as listed by a contemporary minister:

    He was a popular and controversial preacher;
    He gathered a group of followers;
    He spent most of his time with the disinherited;
    He taught with authority;
    He never married;
    He never (as far as we know) held a job;
    He did not participate responsibly in public affairs;
    He did not have income, property, or a fixed address;
    He was in bitter and frequent conflict with the religious and political authorities;
  & nbsp; He seemed to expect that the world would be eminently, radically, and supernaturally transformed;
    He attacked the traditions and values of his own people;
    He practically forced the authorities to prosecute and execute him.

    There is nothing exclusively religious, much less Christian, in this description, which, with a few exceptions, might apply also to Socrates or to “Che” Guevara. I asked many socially oriented ministers why they were Christians at all. Some said through faith, and some said that Christianity gave them courage and the motivation to endure (but so do other beliefs). Some said they hardly knew and [that] if another, more acceptable ideology came along, they would embrace it.
    ... Arthur Herzog (1927-2010), The Church Trap, New York: Macmillan, 1968, p. 166-167 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 4:1-5; John 4:32-34; Rom. 12:12; 1 Tim. 4:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, recall Your people to Your power and service.

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