Saturday, July 04, 2020

Lucado: a timely reminder

Saturday, July 4, 2020
Meditation:
    From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
    —John 1:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Remind us, O Lord, that you do not exist to bless America. We exist to bless you.
    ... Max Lucado (b. 1955), from a prayer at the RNC, 2004 (see the book)
    See also John 1:16-17; 2 Chr. 7:14; 1 John 4:4; 1 Thess. 5:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are blessed.
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Friday, July 03, 2020

Shoemaker: a redemptive community

Friday, July 3, 2020
    Feast of Thomas the Apostle
Meditation:
    Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
    —Romans 14:19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There are, I should say, four elements in a redemptive community. It is personal, with things happening between people as well as to and in them individually; it is compassionate, always eager to help, observant but nonjudgmental toward others, breathing out hope and concern; it is creative, with imagination about each one in the group and its work as a whole, watching for authentic new vision coming from any of them; and it is expectant, always seeking to offer to God open and believing hearts and minds through which He can work out His will, either in the sometimes startling miracles He gives or in steady purpose through long stretches where there is no special “opening.” It may fairly be said that unless one enmeshes himself in this “redemptive fellowship” of the church, he lessens his chances of steady growth and effectiveness, in his Christian life and experience.
    ... Samuel M. Shoemaker (1893-1963), The Experiment of Faith, New York: Harper, 1957, p. 34 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 14:19; Ps. 32:2; Rom. 12:15; 1 Cor. 10:24; Eph. 4:11-16; Phil. 2:3-4; 1 Tim. 4:6-7; 2 Tim. 4:3; Heb. 13:9; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 2:19; 3:18; 4:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we look to You to shape Your people as You will.
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Thursday, July 02, 2020

Clement: goods

Thursday, July 2, 2020
Meditation:
    Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.
    Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow”—when you now have it with you.
    —Proverbs 3:27-28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good: they are instruments for good, in the hands of those who use them properly.
    ... St. Clement of Alexandria (150?-220?), The Ante-Nicene Fathers, v. II, Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, trs., Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885, p. 595 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 3:27-28; Zech. 8:16-17; Matt. 7:15; Rom. 15:2; Gal. 6:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Your Spirit, Lord, has opened torrents of charity.
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Wednesday, July 01, 2020

Summers: the Lollard fundamentals

Wednesday, July 1, 2020
    Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873
Meditation:
Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
    then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding,
    and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands,
    for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
    and not toward selfish gain.
    —Psalm 119:33-36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Reynold Pecock, Bishop of St. Asaph, [in The Repressor of Overmuch Blamings of the Clergy] tells us that the Lollards objected to image-worship, pilgrimages, the landed endowments of the Church, degrees of rank among the clergy, the authority of tradition, the monastic orders, the invocation of the saints (and every practice based on the doctrine of the transference of merit), the use of ornaments in Divine service, the mass (and the doctrine of sacramental grace generally), oaths, war, and capital punishment. We have here the outlines of a system approximating in some respects to modern Quakerism, and the likeness is enhanced by something like the doctrine of the “inward light.” Pecock ascribes to the “Bible-men” three fundamental principles, or “trowings,” as he calls them:
    1. That nothing is to be esteemed a law of God, unless it is founded on Scripture;
    2. That every Christian “meke in spirit” shall without fail understand the true sense of the Bible;
    3. That he should then heed no arguments of “clerks” to the contrary... Further on in the book he adds a fourth “trowing” of theirs—that the clergy were so blinded by self-interest that it was impossible for them to arrive at the true sense of Scripture.
    ... W. H. Summers, Our Lollard Ancestors, London: National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, 1904, p. 81-83 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:33-36; Gal. 5:19-23; Phil.2:3-4; Jas. 3:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have moved mightily among Your people.
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Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Barclay: doubts

Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Meditation:
    When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
    —Mark 16:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he has attained to a certainty that the man who unthinkingly accepts things can never reach.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of John, v. 2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, p. 322 (see the book)
    See also Mark 16:9-13; Matt. 8:23-26; 11:2-3; 28:17; Mark 9:22-24; John 20:24-29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have changed my mind.
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Monday, June 29, 2020

MacDonald: to advance the cause

Monday, June 29, 2020
    Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles
Meditation:
    He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
    But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
    —Mark 8:31-33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is a serious thought that the disobedience of the men he had set free from blindness and leprosy should be able to hamper him in his work for his father. But his best friends, his lovers did the same. That he should be crucified was a horror to them; they would have made him a king, and ruined his father’s work. He preferred the cruelty of his enemies to the kindness of his friends. The former with evil intent wrought his father’s will; the latter with good intent would have frustrated it.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Displeasure of Jesus”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 190 (see the book)
    See also Mark 8:31-33; Matt. 9:27-31; 16:21-23; Mark 1:40-45; John 18:36
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, not my will, but Yours be done.
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Sunday, June 28, 2020

Irenaeus: like us

Sunday, June 28, 2020
    Feast of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher, Martyr, c.200
Meditation:
    Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
    —1 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God, of his boundless love, became what we are that he might make us what he himself is.
    ... Irenaeus (c.130-c.200), from Adversus Haereses, v. praef. (ad fin.), in The Early Christian Fathers, Henry Scowcroft Bettenson, London: Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 106 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 3:16; Isa. 7:14; John 1:14; Rom. 1:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 4:4-5; Heb. 4:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are one of us.
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