Elliot: the extraordinary God

Saturday, January 8, 2022
    26th anniversary of CQOD
    Commemoration of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming, martyrs, Ecuador, 1956
Meditation:
    [God] chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
    —1 Corinthians 1:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.
    ... Jim Elliot (1927-1956), The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot, Revell, 1990, p. 98 (see the book)
    See also Job 42:2-6; Ps. 39:4-5; Luke 11:52; Rom. 11:33-34; 12:16; 1 Cor. 1:28-29; 2 Cor. 12:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Amen. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: in the Presence

Friday, January 7, 2022
Meditation:
    For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
    —2 Corinthians 1:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we do not pray, we fail to realize that we are in the presence of God.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Prayer, Westminster John Knox Press, 2002, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 28:19-20; Luke 18:1; Rom. 8:26; 2 Cor. 1:19-20; Phil. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:13; Heb. 4:16; 10:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me an attitude of prayer wherever I go. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brainerd: where to advance the kingdom

Thursday, January 6, 2022
    EPIPHANY
Meditation:
    When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
    —Luke 5:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Of late, I have thought much of having the kingdom of Christ advanced in the world; but now I saw I had enough to do within myself. The Lord be merciful to me a sinner, and wash my soul!
    ... David Brainerd (1718-1747), entry for April 8, 1743, Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, New Haven: S. Converse, 1822, p. 96 (see the book)
    See also Ezra 9:6; Ps. 40:11-12; Luke 5:8; 7:6-9; 18:10-14; 1 Cor. 1:11-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long for the day when You finish the work You began in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Joad: faith and reason

Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Meditation:
    Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.
    —1 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Intellect can light up only a small area of the universe. For my part, I should subscribe to the familiar paradox that the more we know, the more we are conscious of our ignorance; the further the intellect has traveled, the smaller it seems relatively to the distance still to be traveled... The intellect does, indeed, take us part of the way; we have no other mode of conveyance; and, in taking us as far as it does, it justifies us in taking the rest on trust... In following the religious account of the universe beyond the point at which it leaves reason behind, and trusting to it as an explanation of the many things that pass our understanding, we are accepting on faith conclusions which are not demonstrated by reason. In other words, we are acting as if a hypothesis were true which, at the moment at which we act upon it, is still a hypothesis and not a truth. Nevertheless, it is, I suggest, knowledge, the knowledge which we possess already and wh ich reason has won for us, that makes it reasonable to do so.
    ... C. E. M. Joad (1891-1953), The Recovery of Belief, London: Faber and Faber, 1952, p. 19-20 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 3:17-19; Phil. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted Your people the means to have true wisdom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: mind Heaven

Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Meditation:
    ... when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
    —1 Peter 5:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 104 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:11-12; Luke 6:35; 2 Tim. 4:8; Heb. 11:24-26; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, fix my eyes on heaven. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Flavel: discovering God's will

Monday, January 3, 2022
    Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”
    —John 7:16-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If, therefore, in doubtful cases, you would discover God’s will, govern yourselves in your search after it by these rules.
    1. Get the true fear of God upon your hearts; be really afraid of offending him; God will not hide his mind from such a soul...
    2. Study the word more, and the concerns and interests of the world less. The word is a light to your feet...
    3. Reduce what you know into practice, and you shall know what is your duty to practise...
    4. Pray for illumination and direction in the way that you should go; beg the Lord to guide you in straits, and that he would not suffer you to fall into sin...
    5. And this being done, follow providence so far as it agrees with the word, and no farther. There is no use to be made of providence against the word, but in subserviency to it.
    ... John Flavel (1628-1691), Divine Conduct [1677], in The Whole Works of the Reverend Mr. John Flavel, v. IV, London: J. Mathews, 1799, p. 470 (see the book)
    See also Ezra 8:21; Ps. 25:14; 86:17; 91:9-11; 111:10; 119:11,105; Mic. 6:9; John 7:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given us Your true word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gregory of Nazianzus: the exchange

Sunday, January 2, 2022
    Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389
    Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, Staretz, 1833
Meditation:
    But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
    —Hebrews 2:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What He was, He laid aside; what He was not, He assumed.
    ... St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389/390), Oration 37.2, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament, v. IVa, John 1-10, Joel C. Elowsky & Thomas C. Oden, InterVarsity Press, 2006, p. 14 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 53:2-3; Matt. 19:1; John 1:1; 10:38; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5-7; Heb. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have truly become one of us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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