Baillie: life in dependence upon God

Saturday, October 24, 2020
Meditation:
    Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
    “Nothing,” they answered.
    —Luke 22:35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus lived His life in complete dependence upon His Father, as we all ought to live our lives. But such dependence does not destroy human personality. Man is never so fully and so truly personal as when he is living in complete dependence upon God. This is how personality comes into its own. This is humanity at its most personal.
    ... Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), God was in Christ: an essay on incarnation and atonement, Scribner, 1955, p. 93 (see the book)
    See also Luke 22:35; Ps. 16:9; Luke 4:3-4; John 12:49,50; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; 2 Cor. 9:8-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You supply the needs of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Oman: men judged themselves

Friday, October 23, 2020
Meditation:
    Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.
    —John 3:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To judge aright we must judge as Christ judged. He judged no man, yet if He judged, His judgments were just... He proclaimed none worthless, none hopeless. Yet men were continually being judged by their relations to Him. The result was infallible, because men judged themselves. Those who loved the light came to Him, those who rejected Him showed that they desired to walk in darkness.
    ... John Oman (1860-1939), Vision and Authority, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1928, p. 171 (see the book)
    See also John 3:19-21; Isa. 9:2; John 1:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my heart loves and fears Your light. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Blake: the glory of Christianity

Thursday, October 22, 2020
Meditation:
    A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
    —Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
    ... William Blake (1757-1827), The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, University of California Press, 2008, p. 201 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 19:11; Ex. 23:4-5; Pr. 25:21; Matt. 5:43-44; 6:14-15; 18:21-22; Mark 11:25; Luke 6:27-28; Rom. 12:14; Col. 3:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant a forgiving heart in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: self-revelation

Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Meditation:
    Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
    Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
    —John 14:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A student: “Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?”
    Barth: “No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son.”
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), during his 1963 Princeton lectures
    See also John 14:7-11; Matt. 3:16-17; 16:14-17; 17:1-5; John 1:14; 5:37-38; Heb. 1:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, we know You because of Your Son. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Nida: an unjustified analysis

Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Meditation:
    Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
    —Acts 2:46-47 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is quite true that the Greek word ekklesia comes from two roots which mean literally “called out.” Many preachers have made use of this fact to point out helpful spiritual implications, and yet, by New Testament times, the word carried no such denotation as “called out.” It was simply the word for “assembly” or “congregation.” It so happened that in the Greek city-states an assembly of the citizenry resulted from the people being called out of their city and summoned from their farms to participate in such gatherings. Even though the etymology of the word remains, its real meaning is just “assembly,” and a Greek-speaking person of New Testament times would be no more inclined to understand ekklesia in its original etymological value of “called out” than we today would recognize “God be with you” in “good-by,” which, as we may learn from the dictionary, was derived from the longer phrase.
    ... Eugene A. Nida (1914-2011), God’s Word in Man’s Language, New York: Harper, 1952, p. 61 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:46-47; Matt. 18:20; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:20; Eph. 5:29-30; Heb. 10:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we praise You for the promise of Your presence in the assembly. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Erasmus: the Gospel-bearer

Monday, October 19, 2020
    Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812
Meditation:
    How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
    —Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He is the true Gospel-bearer that carries it in his hands, in his mouth, and in his heart... A man does not carry it in his heart that does not love it with all his soul; and nobody loves it as he ought, that does not conform to it in his life.
    ... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), The Colloquies of Erasmus, v. II, London: Reeves & Turner, 1878, p. 172-173 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 52:7; 40:9; 61:1-3; Nah. 1:15; Matt. 7:22-23; Rom. 10:12-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I may show forth the Gospel throughout all my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: are we ready for inspection?

Sunday, October 18, 2020
    Feast of Luke the Evangelist
Meditation:
    For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
    —Philippians 1:21-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” If He should now come, would He find it in us? What fruits of faith have we to show? Do we look upon this life only as a short passage to a better? Do we believe that we must suffer with Jesus Christ before we can reign with Him? Do we consider this world as a deceitful appearance, and death as the entrance to true happiness? Do we live by faith? Does it animate us? Do we relish the eternal truths it presents us with? Are we as careful to nourish our souls with those truths as to maintain our bodies with proper diet? Do we accustom ourselves to see all things in the light of faith? Do we correct all our judgments by it? Alas! The greater part of Christians think and act like mere heathens; if we judge (as we justly may) of their faith by their practice, we must conclude they have no faith at all.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month, London: H. D. Symonds, 1800, p. 1-3 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:21-24; Hab. 2:4; Luke 18:8; 21:7; 2 Tim. 2:11-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, pour out Your gift of faith on mankind, that they may believe. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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