Pascal: both truths

Saturday, March 19, 2022
    Feast of Joseph of Nazareth
Meditation:
    I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
    —Romans 11:25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The knowledge of God without that of man’s misery causes pride. The knowledge of man’s misery without that of God causes despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because in Him we find both God and our misery.
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #527, p. 173 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 11:25; Deut. 29:18-19; Hos. 6:6; Matt. 23:2-3,8-12; Luke 20:46-47; Rom. 7:24; 12:3; 1 Cor. 8:1-3; Phil. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me understanding of Your glory without pride. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Tozer: man-centered Christianity

Friday, March 18, 2022
Meditation:
    “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?”
    —Isaiah 45:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Saviour of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficient souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), Man: The Dwelling Place of God, Harrisburg, Penn.: Christian Publications, Inc., 1966, p. 27 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 45:9; 1 Chr. 29:11; Isa. 29:16; 64:8; Mic. 6:8; Rom. 9:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that on You alone are my thoughts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Bishop: whom grace is for

Thursday, March 17, 2022
    Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
Meditation:
    For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
    —Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice—so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures—so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him—so blind that they cannot see Him—so deaf that they cannot hear Him and so dead that He Himself must open their graves and then lift them into resurrection.
    ... G. S. Bishop (1836-1914), The Doctrines of Grace, Gospel Publishing House, 1910, p. 156 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 11:5-6; Eph. 2:1-2; Phil. 2:12-13; Col. 2:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone save. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Basil: sin slain in the flesh

Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Meditation:
    O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
    —1 Corinthians 15:55 (KJV)
Quotation:
    If what was reigned over by death was not that which was assumed by the Lord, death would not have ceased working his own ends, nor would the sufferings of the God-bearing flesh have been made our gain; He would not have killed sin in the flesh; we who had died in Adam should not have been made alive in Christ; the fallen to pieces would not have been framed again; the shattered would not have been set up again; that which by the serpent’s trick had been estranged from God would never have been made once more His own.
    ... St. Basil the Great (330?-379), letter 261.2, A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, second series, v. VIII, Philip Schaff & Henry Wace, ed., New York: Christian Literature Company, 1895, p. 300 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 15:53-57; Isa. 25:7-8; Hos. 13:14; Luke 20:35-36; 1 Cor. 15:22-26; 2 Tim. 1:10; Rev. 20:14; 21:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in You our estrangement ends. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Pink: outrage of the natural man

Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Meditation:
    Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
    —Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Nothing riles the natural man more and brings to the surface his innate, inveterate enmity against God than to press upon him the eternality, the freeness, and the absolute sovereignty of divine grace. That God should have formed His purpose from everlasting, without in anywise consulting the creature, is too abasing for the unbroken heart. That grace cannot be earned or won by any efforts of man is too self-emptying for self-righteousness. That grace singles out whom it pleases to be its favored objects arouses hot protests from haughty rebels.
    ... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), The Nature of God, Moody Publishers, 1999, p. 81 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 64:8; Rom. 9:12-16; 1 Cor. 2:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your elect owe all to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Underhill: hard choices

Monday, March 14, 2022
Meditation:
    Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
    —Matthew 26:39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christian history looks glorious in retrospect; but it is made up of constant hard choices and unattractive tasks, accepted under the pressure of the Will [of God].
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Abba, New York: Longmans, Green, 1940, p. 44-45 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 26:39; Ps. 40:7-8; John 6:38; 14:31; Phil. 2:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, humble me so that I do not resist the Holy Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Barclay: one way

Sunday, March 13, 2022
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
    —Matthew 13:45-46 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is only one way to bring peace to the heart, joy to the mind, beauty to the life, and that is to accept and to do the will of God.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of Matthew, v. 2, Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1958, p. 97 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:45-46; Ps. 4:6-7; 39:6-7; Prov. 2:1-5; 3:13-16; Col. 2:2-3; Gal. 6:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have provided all joy within Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth