Pinnock: creationism a prerequisite

Saturday, August 27, 2022
    Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
Meditation:
    That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
    —Romans 10:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christians have often been their own worst enemy in the way that they have invented problems for themselves that need not have arisen, not only causing themselves a good deal of anxiety but also deterring otherwise interested parties from looking into the truth further... Even today Christians are doing battle with the scientific establishment on behalf of what they call creationism as if the Christian faith depended on it. Surely it does not. The Bible does not date the creation of the human race, nor does it describe the methods employed in its formation. Whether it took millions of years or only a [few] is not part of Christian essentials. It only makes it harder for a person to consider the gospel seriously when such a concept is made a prerequisite to faith.
    ... Clark H. Pinnock (1937-2010), Reason Enough, Exeter: Paternoster, 1980, p. 109 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 10:9,17; Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, correct my understanding. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Schaeffer: the right to judge

Friday, August 26, 2022
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
    —John 13:34-35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the dying culture going to consider us? Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present dying culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The Mark of the Christian, Inter-Varsity Press, 1976, p. 12 (see the book)
    See also John 13:34-35; Gal. 6:2; 1 John 2:8-10; 3:10-11; 4:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let the light of Your church shine forth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Wedel: prodigals no more!

Thursday, August 25, 2022
Meditation:
    I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
    —Ephesians 1:18-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prodigal sons, forgiven and reconciled with their heavenly Father—could they do other than forgive one another? A fellowship of prodigal sons came into being—the Church of Christ. Love begets love. A new power ... was let loose upon our suffering world, the power to love those who have not deserved love, the unworthy, the unlovely and unlovable, a man’s enemies, and even his torturers. Christians, in imitation of the Saviour, became, as it were, Christs to one another and to the world.
    ... Theodore O. Wedel (1892-1970), The Holy Catholic Church, Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications, 19--, p. 6 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 1:18-21; Matt. 9:10-13; 11:19; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:29-32; 7:36-38; 15:1-2; 19:1-10; John 13:34; Rom. 5:8; 12:21; 14:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to hold out Christ to others. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Singh: which cross?

Wednesday, August 24, 2022
    Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle
Meditation:
    ... and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
    —Matthew 10:28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we do not bear the cross of the Master, we will have to bear the cross of the world—with all its earthly goods. Those who bear the Master’s cross know from experience that this cross bears them and takes them safely to their destiny. But the cross of this world actually drags us down and leads to destruction. Which cross have you taken up? Pause and consider.
    ... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), Wisdom of the Sadhu, with Kim Comer, Farmington, PA: Plough Publishing House, 2007, p. 150 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 10:28; 1 Cor. 1:17-18; Gal. 6:14; Eph. 2:14-16; Col. 2:13-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I ever choose You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Tozer: made for eternity

Tuesday, August 23, 2022
    Commemoration of Rose of Lima, Contemplative, 1617
Meditation:
    God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
    —Romans 2:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We who live in this nervous age would be wise to meditate on our lives and our days long and often before the face of God and on the edge of eternity. For we are made for eternity as surely as we are made for time, and as responsible moral beings we must deal with both.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Knowledge of the Holy, Harper & Row, 1975, p. 41 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 2:6-7; Ps. 30:11-12; 90:1-2; 119:142; Eccl. 3:11; Matt. 19:29; 25:46; Luke 20:34-36; John 3:14-16; Rom. 6:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me fit for eternity with You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Browne: Search while thou wilt

Monday, August 22, 2022
Meditation:
For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.
    —Proverbs 2:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
Search while thou wilt, and let thy reason go
To ransome truth even to th’ Abyss below;
Rally the scattered Causes; and that line
Which Nature twists, be able to untwine:
It is thy Makers will, for unto none,
But unto reason can he e’er be known...

Give thou my reason that instructive flight,
Whose weary wings may on thy hands still light.
Teach me so to soar aloft, yet ever so,
When near the Sun, to stoop again below.
Thus shall my humble Feathers safely hover,
And, though near Earth, more than the Heavens discover.
And then at last, when homeward I shall drive
Rich with the Spoils of nature to my Hive,
There will I sit like that industrious Flie,
Buzzing thy praises, which shall never die,
Till death abrupts them, and succeeding Glory
Bid me go on in a more lasting story.
    ... Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), Religio Medici [1643], W. Murison, ed., Cambridge University Press, 1922, p. 17-28 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 2:10-11; 1:7; 8:10-11; 24:3-5; 1 Cor. 13:9-12; Phil. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I read Your great glory in nature and the heavens.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Kilmer: The Kings of the earth

Sunday, August 21, 2022
Meditation:
    The kings of the earth take their stand
        and the rulers gather together
        against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
    —Psalm 2:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
The Kings of the earth are men of might,
And cities are burned for their delight,
And the skies rain death in the silent night,
    And the hills belch death all day!

But the King of Heaven, Who made them all,
Is fair and gentle, and very small;
He lies in the straw, by the oxen’s stall—
    Let them think of Him to-day!
    ... Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), Joyce Kilmer: Memoir and Poems, v. I, New York: George H. Doran Company, 1918, p. 169 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 2:2; Isa. 42:1-4; Matt. 11:29; 27:1; Luke 2:6-7; 2 Cor. 10:1; Phil. 2:5-8; Rev. 17:12-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your have conquered Your enemies with meekness.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth