Watts: Had I the tongues of Greeks and Jews

Saturday, November 26, 2022
    Commemoration of Isaac Watts, Hymnwriter, 1748
Meditation:
    If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
    —1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
Had I the tongues of Greeks and Jews,
And nobler speech than angels use;
If love be absent, I am found,
Like tinkling brass, an empty sound.

Were I inspir’d to preach, and tell
All that is done in heaven and hell;
Or could my faith the world remove,
Still—I am nothing without love.

Should I distribute all my store,
To feed the hung’ry, clothe the poor;
Or give my body to the flame,
To gain a martyr’s glorious name;—

If love to God, and love to men,
Be absent—all my hopes are vain:
Nor tongues, nor gifts, nor fiery zeal,
The works of love can e’er fulfil.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, n. 134, p. 360 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 13:1-3; Gal. 5:6; 1 Pet. 4:8; 2 Pet. 2:18; 1 John 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, take away my excuses for failing in love.

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Calvin: the word from God

Friday, November 25, 2022
    Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century
Meditation:
Your statutes stand firm;
    holiness adorns your house
    for endless days, O LORD.
    —Psalm 93:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As to the question, How shall we be persuaded that it came from God without recurring to a decree of the Church? it is just the same as if it were asked, How shall we learn to distinguish light from darkness, white from black, sweet from bitter? Scripture bears upon the face of it as clear evidence of its truth, as white and black do of their colour, sweet and bitter of their taste.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.vii.2, p. 76-77 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 93:5; John 1:4-5; Rom. 8:16; Eph. 2:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit testifies to the truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Smith: discouragement

Thursday, November 24, 2022
    Thanksgiving (U.S.)
Meditation:
Better the little that the righteous have
    than the wealth of many wicked;
for the power of the wicked will be broken,
    but the LORD upholds the righteous.
    —Psalm 37:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [The enemy] comes and whispers suggestions of evil to us,—doubts, blasphemies, jealousies, envyings, and pride,—and then turns round and says, “Oh, how wicked you must be to think of such things! It is very plain that you are not trusting the Lord; for if you were, it would have been impossible for these things to have entered your heart.” This reasoning sounds so very plausible that the soul often accepts it as true, and at once comes under condemnation, and is filled with discouragement. Then it is easy for Satan to lead it on into actual sin. One of the most fatal things in the life of faith is discouragement. One of the most helpful is cheerfulness.
    ... Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, London: F. E. Longley, 1876, p. 136 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 37:16-17; 31:22; Jer. 18:11-12; 1 Cor. 10:13; Eph. 4:26-27; 1 Tim. 6:6-8; Heb. 12:11-13; 1 John 4:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me from temptation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Atkinson: church health

Wednesday, November 23, 2022
    Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
    —Matthew 24:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [After the Ascension, the Apostles] returned to the city, conscious that they were entrusted with the Gospel message which was the salvation of the world, and at the end of their task they would again meet face to face the Lord Who had committed it to them. From that day to this, these two themes have been inseparable from health in the church.
    ... B. F. C. Atkinson (1895-1971), Valiant in Fight, London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions, 1937, p. 11 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 24:14; Isa. 65:1;Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47; John 14:3; Acts 1:7-11; Heb. 9:27-28
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your people be busy in preaching the gospel when You return. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: summoned inside

Tuesday, November 22, 2022
    Commemoration of Cecilia, Martyr at Rome, c.230
    Commemoration of Clive Staples Lewis, Spiritual Writer, 1963
Meditation:
How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O LORD Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
    —Psalm 84:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation. And to be at last summoned inside would be both the glory and honor beyond all our merits and also the healing of that old ache.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), “The Weight of Glory” in The Weight of Glory, and other addresses, Macmillan Co., 1949, p. 12 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 84:1-2; 27:4; 42:1-2; 63:1-2; 84:10; 143:6; Matt. 18:20; John 4:23-24; Rev. 21:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have healed me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newman: taking up the cross

Monday, November 21, 2022
Meditation:
    Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
    —Romans 13:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Parochial Sermons, v. 1, New York: D. Appleton, 1843, p. 42 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 13:10-11; Mark 8:34-35; 9:43-47; Luke 9:23; 14:26-27; 1 John 2:28
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me more aware of my neighbor’s needs. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: free space

Sunday, November 20, 2022
    Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870
    Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England, 1876
Meditation:
    But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
    —Luke 5:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We should always consider with greatest concern (even if it is only in a casual conversation or when we are alone with ourselves) that a free space is left through which God Himself can come to us.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), from “He Himself” in Come Holy Spirit: Sermons, New York: Round Table Press, 1933, reprint, Mowbrays, 1978, p. 161 (see the book)
    See also Luke 5:16; Matt. 6:6; 14:23; Luke 10:38-42; John 6:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I flee the world’s distractions to be with You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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