Shedd: no merit of our own

Saturday, October 2, 2021
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
    —Luke 17:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our Lord takes the ground that there can be no merit, in the absolute meaning of the word, in the creature before the Creator. No man can perform a service in such an independent, unassisted style and manner, as to make God his debtor... The creature is an absolute debtor to his Creator, and his Creator comes under no obligations to him by anything that he can do.
    ... W. G. T. Shedd (1820-1894), Sermons to the Spiritual Man, New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1884, p. 129, 131 (see the book)
    See also Luke 17:10; Job 22:2-3; John 6:44-45; Rom. 4:4-5; 11:5-6; Eph. 2:8,9; Phil. 2:12-13; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 John 4:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Always, Lord, I am in debt to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Therese of Lisieux: heaven

Friday, October 1, 2021
    Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
    Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
Meditation:
    Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
    —1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
To live of love, ’tis without stint to give,
    And never count the cost, nor ask reward;
So, counting not the cost, I long to live
    And show my dauntless love for Thee, dear Lord!
O Heart Divine, o’erflowing with tenderness,
    How swift I run, who all to Thee has given!
Naught but Thy love I need, my life to bless.
        That love is heaven!
    ... Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), Poems of St. Teresa, Carmelite of Lisieux, Boston, Angel Guardian Press, 1907, “To Live of Love”, n. 5 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 13:4; John 12:3-8; 14:23-27; 15:12; 1 Cor. 13:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant, Lord, that I should learn to love You more. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonar: I Heard the voice of Jesus say

Thursday, September 30, 2021
Meditation:
    He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”
    —Revelation 21:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
I Heard the voice of Jesus say,
    Come unto me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
    Thy head upon my breast.
I came to Jesus as I was,
    Weary, and worn, and sad,
I found in Him a resting-place,
    And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
    Behold, I freely give
The living water,—thirsty one,
    Stoop down, and drink, and live.
I came to Jesus and I drank
    Of that life-giving stream,
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
    And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
    I am this dark world’s light,
Look unto me, thy morn shall rise
    And all thy day be bright.
I looked to Jesus and I found
    In Him, my Star, my Sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk
    Till travelling days are done.
    ... Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), Hymns of Faith and Hope, first series, New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1866, p. 159 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 21:6; Ps. 119:105; Isa. 35:10; Matt. 11:28-30; John 1:16; 4:13-14; 7:37-38; 1 John 5:3-4; Rev. 21:3-4; 22:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have received Your gift.

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Lewis: moderate importance?

Wednesday, September 29, 2021
    Feast of Michael & All Angels
Meditation:
    Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
    And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
    So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”
    —Mark 3:20-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), “Christian Apologetics”, in God in the Dock [1970], ed. Walter Hooper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994, p. 101 (see the book)
    See also Mark 3:20-24; Ps. 119:142; Mark 9:41-47; Luke 2:10-14; 1 Cor. 15:53-54; 1 Tim. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, only in You can the cosmos make sense. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: life and prayer

Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
    “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
    —Mark 13:33-36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The short of the matter is this, either Reason and Religion prescribe rules and ends to all the ordinary actions of our life, or they do not: If they do, then it is as necessary to govern all our actions by those rules, as it is necessary to worship God. For if Religion teaches us any thing concerning eating and drinking, or spending our time and money, if it teaches us how we are to use and contemn the world, if it tells us what tempers we are to have in common life, how we are to be disposed towards all people, how we are to behave towards the sick, the poor, the old and destitute; if it tells us whom we are to treat with a particular love, whom we are to regard with a particular esteem; if it tells us how we are to treat our enemies, and how we are to mortify and deny our selves, he must be very weak, that can think these parts of Religion are not to be observed with as much exactness, as any doctrines that relate to Prayers.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 7-8 (see the book)
    See also Mark 13:33-37; Ex. 20:3-17; Matt. 5:44; 19:16-22; Mark 8:35; John 13:34-35; Rom. 12:1-2; 14:21; Gal. 6:2; Jas. 2:1-4; Jude 1:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown us what You want: grant me a heart to do those things. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: Christian liberty

Monday, September 27, 2021
    Feast of Vincent de Paul, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists), 1660
Meditation:
    To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
    —John 8:31-32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    At first sight, you felt [the Beatitudes] turned everything upside down. At second sight, you understand that they turn everything right side up. The first time you read them they are impossible. The second time you read them, nothing else is possible. The beatitudes are not a chart for Christian duty. They are a charter for Christian liberty.
    ... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), from speech at Emory University, 1966 (see the book)
    See also John 8:31-32; Isa. 61:1-2; Matt. 5:3-12; Luke 4:18-19; 6:20-23; John 8:36; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1,13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray that Your freedom may come to ____ and ____. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: for forgiveness

Sunday, September 26, 2021
    Commemoration of Wilson Carlile, Priest, Founder of the Church Army, 1942
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth...”
    —John 14:15-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Almighty and most merciful Father, whose clemency I now presume to implore, after a long life of carelessness and wickedness, have mercy upon me. I have committed many trespasses; I have neglected many duties; I have done what Thou hast forbidden, and left undone what Thou hast commanded. Forgive, merciful Lord, my sins, negligences, and ignorances, and enable me, by thy Holy Spirit, to amend my life according to thy Holy word, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, p. 191 (see the book)
    See also John 14:15-17; Matt. 6:12; Luke 18:13; 1 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prompt me more towards repentance. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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