Chesterton: one is real and the other not

Saturday, March 7, 2020
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
Meditation:
    Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
    —Revelation 7:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Those who call these cults “religions,” and “compare” them with the certitude and challenge of the Church have much less appreciation than we have of what made heathenism human, or of why classic literature is still something that hangs in the air like a song. It is no very human tenderness for the hungry to prove that hunger is the same as food. It is no very genial understanding of youth to argue that hope destroys the need for happiness.
    And it is utterly unreal to argue that these images in the mind, admired entirely in the abstract, were even in the same world with a living man and a living polity that were worshipped because they were concrete... They are only different because one is real and the other is not. I do not mean merely that I myself believe that one is true and the other is not. I mean that one was never meant to be true in the same sense as the other.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), The Everlasting Man, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1925, Wilder Publications, 2008, p. 68 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:16; Acts 17:30; 1 John 5:19; Rev. 7:16-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, place Your words in my mouth, that I may be a witness for You to this generation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Tozer: the written Word

Friday, March 6, 2020
Meditation:
    The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
    —John 6:63b (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    The Bible is the written word of God, and because it is written it is confined and limited by the necessities of ink and paper and leather. The Voice of God, however, is alive and free as the sovereign God is free. “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” The life is in the speaking words. God’s word in the Bible can have power only because it corresponds to God’s word in the universe. It is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also John 6:63; Matt. 24:35; Rom. 10:17; 1 Cor. 3:6-9; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Pet. 1:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I hear Your Voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Tozer: the Living Word

Thursday, March 5, 2020
Meditation:
    It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.
    —John 6:63a (ESV)
Quotation:
    The why of natural law is the living Voice of God immanent in His creation. And this word of God which brought all worlds into being cannot be understood to mean the Bible, for it is not a written or printed word at all, but the expression of the will of God spoken into the structure of all things. This word of God is the breath of God filling the world with living potentiality. The Voice of God is the most powerful force in nature, indeed the only force in nature, for all energy is here only because the power-filled Word is being spoken. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also John 6:63; Gen. 1:1-3; Num. 23:19; Isa. 45:22-23; 55:11; Eph. 1:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the final cause of all that is and will be. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

John of the Cross: the gate

Wednesday, March 4, 2020
    Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
Meditation:
    My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
    —Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    For this reason the apostle Paul said of Christ, “In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” The soul cannot enter into these treasures, nor attain them, unless it first crosses into and enters the thicket of suffering, enduring interior and exterior labors, and unless it first receives from God very many blessings in the intellect and in the senses, and has undergone long spiritual training.
    The gate that gives entry into these riches of his wisdom is the cross; because it is a narrow gate, while many seek the joys that can be gained through it, it is given to few to desire to pass through it.
    ... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), from the commentary, The Spiritual Canticle, XXXVII.4, XXXVI.13 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:13-14; Ps. 36:6; 139:6; Luke 13:24; Eph. 3:8-12; Col. 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I seek only Your cross. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

John of the Cross: the richest treasure

Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Meditation:
    What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory...
    —Romans 9:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Though holy doctors have uncovered many mysteries and wonders, and devout souls have understood them in this earthly condition of ours, yet the greater part still remains to be unfolded by them, and even to be understood by them. We must then dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig, we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), from the commentary, The Spiritual Canticle, XXXVII.4 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 9:22-23; Ps. 40:5; Eccl. 3:11; Dan. 4:35; Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 10:3-4; Eph. 3:16-19; Col. 1:27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have more riches of glory for those who follow You, and more beside. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Bonhoeffer: taking up the cross

Monday, March 2, 2020
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
    —John 5:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The cross is laid on every Christian. It begins with the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. Since this happens at the beginning of the Christian life, the cross can never be merely a tragic ending to an otherwise happy religious life. When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at His call. That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and His call are necessarily our death and our life.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 89 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 16:24,25; Luke 14:33; John 5:24-26; Eph. 2:1,5-6; 1 Pet. 2:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I surrender myself to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Runyan: Lord, I have shut the door

Sunday, March 1, 2020
    Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Meditation:
    But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
    —Matthew 6:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
Lord, I have shut the door, speak now the word
Which in the din and throng could not be heard;
Hushed now my inner heart, whisper Thy will,
While I have come apart, while all is still.

In this blest quietness clamorings cease;
Here in Thy presence dwells infinite peace;
Yonder, the strife and cry, yonder, the sin:
Lord, I have shut the door, Thou art within!

Lord, I have shut the door, strengthen my heart;
Yonder awaits the task—I share a part.
Only through grace bestowed may I be true;
Here, while alone with Thee, my strength renew.
    ... William M. Runyan (1870-1957), [1923]The Complete Book of Hymns, William J. Petersen, ed., Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2006, p. 574 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:5-8; 2 Kings 4:32-33; Matt. 14:23; 26:36-39
Quiet time reflection:
    Speak, Lord, for I am listening.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth