Taylor: prayer to be guided

Saturday, February 15, 2020
    Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730
Meditation:
    Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
    —1 Peter 5:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Guide me, O Lord, in all the changes and varieties of the world, that in all things that shall happen I may have an evenness and tranquillity of spirit; that my soul may be wholly resigned to thy divinest will and pleasure, never murmuring at thy gentle chastisements and fatherly correction, never waxing proud and insolent though I feel a torrent of comforts and prosperous successes.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 34 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 5:5; John 10:3-4; 16:13; Rom. 12:3,16; 1 Tim. 6:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word reduces me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: the natural hatred of Spirit

Friday, February 14, 2020
    Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
    Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269
Meditation:
    But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
    —Romans 8:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is “spirit?” (for Christ is spirit, his religion that of the spirit). Spirit is: to live as though dead (dead to the world).
    This way of life is so entirely foreign to man that to him it is quite literally worse than death.
    Very carefully introduced for an hour or so in the distance of the imagination, natural man can bear it, it even pleases him; but if it is brought nearer him, so near that it becomes, in all seriousness, something required of him, the natural instinct of self-protection rises up so powerfully in him that a regular uproar follows, as with drink... And in that condition, in which he is beside himself, he demands the death of the man of spirit, or rushes upon him to put him to death.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 548 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:10; Ps. 31:11-12; Rom. 7:8-11; Eph. 2:1-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, take away the spirit of rebellion and allow Your Spirit to reign in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Caird: Christianity, the precondition for democracy

Thursday, February 13, 2020
Meditation:
    “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD.
    —Zechariah 8:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When we turn from the microcosm of man to see the same qualities writ large in the character of the state, we find that democratic government has flourished only where Protestant Christianity has been strong. (The democracies of Greece were not truly democratic, for they were founded on slave labour.) This may be an historical accident, but it looks rather as though democracy imperatively requires conditions which only Christianity can supply: a conviction that every person is of infinite worth, that man is not his own master, that duties are more important than rights, and that spiritual well-being is of more account than material comfort and security.
    ... G. B. Caird (1917-1984), The Truth of the Gospel, London: Oxford University Press, 1950, p. 51-52 (see the book)
    See also Zech. 8:16-17; Amos 5:24; Matt. 5:9; Rom. 12:18; Phil. 2:3; Heb. 12:14; Jas. 3:16-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may You establish justice in all lands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: the true treasure

Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
    —John 12:27-28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, Harold J. Grimm, ed., Fortress Press, 1957, thesis #62, p. 14 (see the book)
    See also John 12:27-28; Acts 4:33; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Eph. 6:15; 1 Tim. 4:16; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, arouse Your church for Your Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: the rights of man

Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Meditation:
    When they hurled their insults at [Christ], he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
    —1 Peter 2:23-25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Lest it should be possible that any unchildlike soul might, in arrogance and ignorance, think to stand upon his rights against God, and demand of Him this or that after the will of the flesh, I will lay before such a possible one some of the things to which he has a right... He has a claim to be compelled to repent; to be hedged in on every side; to have one after another of the strong, sharp-toothed sheep-dogs of the Great Shepherd sent after him, to thwart him in any desire, foil him in any plan, frustrate him of any hope, until he come to see at length that nothing will ease his pain, nothing make life a thing worth having, but the presence of the living God within him.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Voice of Job”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 193-194 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 2:21-25; Job 19:6; Ps. 23; John 10:11-15; Heb. 13:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Despite my efforts, Lord, I cannot escape Your grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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La Rochefoucauld: the triumph of pride

Monday, February 10, 2020
    Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
    —Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Pride has a greater share than goodness of heart in the remonstrances we make to those who are guilty of faults; we reprove, not so much with a view to correcting them, as to persuade them that we are exempt from those faults ourselves.
    ... François La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), Moral Reflections, Sentences and Maxims of Francis, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, New York: W. Gowans, 1851, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:1-2; Pr. 16:5; Rom. 1:32; 2:1-5; 11:20; 1 Cor. 10:12-13; Gal. 6:1; Heb. 2:2-3; 12:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in my pride, I sin against Your grace and holiness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moffatt: the audience of the New Testament

Sunday, February 9, 2020
Meditation:
    Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you
    —1 Thessalonians 1:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The attentive reader will notice two items about the New Testament, as he comes to the end of it. For one thing, there is no book of church order, laying down a code of rules for the worship and organization of the communities: [there is] no book corresponding to the Book of Leviticus. The other thing is that the writings are all meant for communities, not for individuals: they reflect and presuppose the life of a society or fellowship. Even the private notes of Paul to Philemon and of the presbyter John to Gaius are addressed to these individuals as members of the church; and Luke’s two volumes are intended primarily—but only primarily—for the Christian education of his friend and patron Theophilus.
    ... James Moffatt (1870-1944), A New Translation of the Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1935, New York: Harper, 1935, Introduction, p. xxxv (see the book)
    See also Luke 1:1-4; Gal. 1:1-2; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:1-2; 1 Thess. 1:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given Your word to the whole church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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