Tozer: out of the world's parade

Saturday, July 25, 2020
    Feast of James the Apostle
Meditation:
    No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
    —Matthew 6:24 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God overall, we step out of the world’s parade... We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its outgoings.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 96 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:24; 23:25; 1 Cor. 2:4-5,13; 2 Cor. 5:16-17; Tit. 2:11-12; Jas. 3:13-18; 1 Pet. 4:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me away from the world’s ways. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: medicine

Friday, July 24, 2020
    Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471
Meditation:
    Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
    —Luke 6:28 (KJV)
Quotation:
    When you hear someone saying unworthy and hard words of you, then it is given to you to drink medicine for your soul from the cup of the Lord.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Hortulus Rosarum, quoted in The Story of the “Imitatio Christi”, Leonard Abercrombie Wheatley, London: Elliot Stock, 1891, VII.i, p. 213 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:28; Matt. 20:22-23; Luke 23:34; Rom. 12:14; 1 Cor. 4:12; 1 Pet. 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray to discard the stunted spirit of petty resentment. Grant that I may receive sight, to behold your purposes in all events. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: Christian cheerfulness

Thursday, July 23, 2020
    Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373
Meditation:
    For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
    —1 Peter 2:21-24 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Any alleged Christianity which fails to express itself in cheerfulness, at some point, is clearly spurious. The Christian is cheerful, not because he is blind to injustice and suffering, but because he is convinced that these, in the light of the divine sovereignty, are never ultimate.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Humor of Christ, London: Libra Book, 1965, p. 32 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 2:21-24; Ps. 9:2; Matt. 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23; 10:20; Rom. 5:1-5; 8:18; 12:15; Phil. 4:4; 1 Pet. 4:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, soon we shall rejoice in You unmixed with our sorrows. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brother Lawrence: not for a special time

Wednesday, July 22, 2020
    Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles
Meditation:
    But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
    —Luke 5:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He said: that it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action, as by prayer in the season of prayer.
    ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, Fourth Conversation, p. 16 (see the book)
    See also Luke 5:16; Ps. 122:6-7; Eccl. 3:1; 1 Thess. 5:17; Heb. 10:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, weave prayer throughout my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tillotson: disinclined

Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Meditation:
    This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
    —1 John 4:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The true ground of most men’s prejudice against the Christian doctrine is, because they have no mind to obey it.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. VI, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon CXVIII, p. 47 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:2-3; Matt. 11:6 1 Cor. 2:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Praise God for the discernment He grants! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: repentance

Monday, July 20, 2020
    Commemoration of Bartolomè de las Casas, Apostle to the Indies, 1566
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
    —Luke 15:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. But what is Repentance? Not the last and noblest and most refined achievement of the righteousness of men in the service of God, but the first elemental act of the righteousness of God in the service of men; the work that God has written in their hearts and which, because it is from God and not from men, occasions joy in heaven; that looking forward to God, and to Him only, which is recognized only by God and by God Himself.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), The Epistle to the Romans, translated from the 6th edition by Edwyn C. Hoskyns, London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1933, 6th ed., Oxford University Press US, 1968, p. 68 (see the book)
    See also Luke 15:4-7,10; Matt. 18:12-14; Rom. 2:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You know how partial my repentance is. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: Christian ethics

Sunday, July 19, 2020
    Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379
Meditation:
    For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
    —Romans 4:14-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian ethic is inseparable from the preaching of the Word, for the very behaviour of the Christian destroys the work of Satan, and helps to build up the Body of Christ in the world.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Presence of the Kingdom, tr. Olive Wyon, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1951, p. 23 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 4:14-16; Matt. 8:16-17; Acts 8:12; 1 Cor. 1:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You lead Your people into battle through Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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