Babcock: the real peril

Saturday, October 17, 2020
    Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107
Meditation:
    For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
    —2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The tests of life are to make, not break us. Trouble may demolish a man’s business but build up his character. The blow at the outward man may be the greatest blessing to the inner man. If God, then, puts or permits anything hard in our lives, be sure that the real peril, the real trouble, is that we shall lose if we flinch or rebel.
    ... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 2 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:17; Matt. 5:11-12; John 16:33; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:18; Phil. 1:18-19; Heb. 12:10-11; Jas. 1:2-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to hold fast to Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pascal: getting at the truth

Friday, October 16, 2020
    Commemoration of the Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicolas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, bishops and martyrs, 1555
Meditation:
    (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
    —John 20:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Unbelievers] think they have made great efforts to get at the truth when they have spent a few hours in reading some book out of Holy Scripture, and have questioned some cleric about the truths of the faith. After that, they boast that they have searched in books and among men in vain.
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #194, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also John 20:9; Matt. 12:7; John 5:39-40; Gal. 3:22; Tit. 1:15; 2 Pet. 3:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, remove the obstacles, so that ____ and ____ may receive a greater knowledge of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Teresa of Avila: the power of obedience

Thursday, October 15, 2020
    Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582
Meditation:
    Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
    —Romans 16:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.
    ... Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), The Interior Castle [1577], tr., E. Allison Peers, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 16:19; Matt. 19:24-26; Luke 1:37; Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the hidden power within Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trueblood: difficulties

Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Meditation:
    Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
    —Jude 1:3
Quotation:
    If we are honest, we freely admit that the Christian system involves difficulties; but so does every other system. No thoughtful person gives up a position merely because he finds difficulties in it; he does not abandon it until he is able to find other and alternative systems with fewer difficulties... I learned from my professors of philosophy... that, while philosophy might not provide me with a watertight intellectual defense of the Christian faith, it would, if used aright, help me to reveal the weakness of its enemies. By careful analysis it is possible to see that there are glaring weaknesses and non-sequiturs in atheism, naturalism, positivism, scientism, and psychologism. The Christian must be a fighter, for he is always under attack. The Church will not be as strong as it ought to be until each local pastor uses his precious freedom from outside employment in order to become a scholarly participant in the intellectual struggle of o ur day and generation.
    ... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Incendiary Fellowship, New York: Harper, 1967, p. 47-48 (see the book)
    See also Jude 1:3; Matt. 6:26; Acts 6:8-10; 9:22; 18:28; Eph. 4:14-15; Phil. 1:27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Your truth to reason. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Origen: seducers?

Tuesday, October 13, 2020
    Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066
Meditation:
    Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
    —John 12:42-43 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Seducers we, they say; but they lead men astray. Oh, what a noble seduction ours, that men should change from dissolute to sober living—or towards it; to justice from injustice—or tending that way; to wisdom from being foolish—or becoming such; and from cowardice, meanness and timidity, show courage and fortitude, not least in this struggle for the sake of our religion.
    ... Origen (185?-254?), Contra Celsum, in After the Apostles, John Foster, SCM Press, 1951, p. 121 (see the book)
    See also John 12:42-43, Deut. 31:6; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Eph. 2:1-2; 4:22-23; 5:8; Col. 3:5-7; Tit. 3:3-6; 1 Pet. 4:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me from being overcome by human judgment. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Traherne: God, present by love

Monday, October 12, 2020
    Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709
    Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845
Meditation:
    This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
    —1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God is present by Love alone. By Love alone He is great and glorious. By Love alone He liveth and feeleth in other persons. By Love alone He enjoyeth all the creatures, by Love alone He is pleasing to Himself, by Love alone He is rich and blessed... The Soul is shrivelled up and buried in a grave that does not love. But that which does love wisely and truly is the joy and end of all the world, the King of Heaven, and the Friend of God.
    ... Thomas Traherne (1637?-1674), Centuries of Meditations, edited and published by Bertram Dobell, in London, 1908, “2nd century”, 50, p. 116 (see the book)
    See also Deut. 4:39; Isa. 57:15; John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:4-5; 1 John 4:8-13; 1 Pet. 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I reflect Your friendship and love to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: in need of forgiveness

Sunday, October 11, 2020
    Commemoration of Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
Meditation:
    Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
    —James 2:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is hard enough, even with the best will in the world, to be just. It is hard, under the pressure of haste, uneasiness, ill-temper, self-complacency, and conceit, even to continue intending justice. Power corrupts; the “insolence of office” will creep in. We see it so clearly in our superiors; is it unlikely that our inferiors see it in us? How many of those who have been over us did not sometimes (perhaps often) need our forgiveness? Be sure that we likewise need the forgiveness of those that are under us.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), “The Psalms”, in Christian Reflections, ed. Walter Hooper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1967, p. 119-120 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:12-13; Matt. 5:7; 6:14-15; 7:1-2; 18:28-35; Col. 3:17; 2 Pet. 1:4-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, don’t let me cover up my need for forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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