Saturday, December 31, 2022

Fuller: the emblem

Saturday, December 31, 2022
    Commemoration of John Wycliffe, Reformer, 1384
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
    —Luke 12:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Hitherto the corpse of John Wickliffe had quietly slept in his grave, about one-and-forty years after his death, till his body was reduced to bones, and his bones almost to dust...
    But now, such the spleen of the Council of Constance [1415], as they not only cursed his memory, as dying an obstinate heretic, but ordered that his bones... to be taken out of the ground, and thrown far off from any Christian burial.
    In obedience hereunto, [the local bishop] sent his officers... to ungrave him accordingly. To Lutterworth they come, [1428] ... take what was left out of the grave, and burnt them to ashes, and cast them into Swift, a neighbouring brook running hard by. Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.
    ... Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), The Church History of Britain, v. I, London: Thomas Tegg and Son, 1837, p. 493 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:11-12; Matt. 10:19-20; Mark 13:9-11; Luke 21:12-15; Acts 5:28-29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church praises You for the faith of our predecessors.
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Friday, December 30, 2022

Gossip: a complacent God?

Friday, December 30, 2022
Meditation:
    And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
    —Hebrews 12:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If your God can allow you to remain complacently the poor thing that you are; if He tells you soothingly not to worry—that He, for His part, is not making a fuss about your faults and failures, will not overpress such matters...—then there is something essentially wrong. For all who know God by more than mere hearsay are at one in this— that He hates sin, that He can’t abide it, that He will let no friend of His settle down in it in peace.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 54-55 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 12:5-7; Ps. 94:12; 119:75; 1 Cor. 11:32; Rev. 3:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You will never give up on me.
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Thursday, December 29, 2022

Church: the renewing Spirit

Thursday, December 29, 2022
    Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170
Meditation:
    We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
    —1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If our knowledge of God is clearer than that of heathen; if prophecies which were dark to Jews are plain to us; if a fellowship and communion with our Father in heaven are granted to us which they could not claim; if the mystery of our sins and our forgiveness is declared to us in the Cross of Jesus Christ; if the hope of what is to come is opened to us, as not even good and holy men under the old covenant were allowed to have it; if we know more of heaven, if we see clearer through death, if we can trust more surely in trials and temptations—it is because for us the Spirit of God has been given.
    ... R. W. Church (1815-1890), Village Sermons, New York: Macmillan Company, 1897, p. 119-120 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:11-13; Ps. 104:30; Acts 2:1-4,38-39; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 3:4-6; 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10; Tit. 3:4-7; 1 John 3:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit teaches me.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Pascal: blindness

Wednesday, December 28, 2022
    Feast of the Holy Innocents
Meditation:
    As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
    —James 2:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If it is an extraordinary blindness to live without investigating what we are, it is a terrible one to live an evil life, while believing in God.
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #495, p. 165 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:26; Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 6:39; Acts 8:13-23; 1 Cor. 15:2; Gal. 5:13; Tit. 1:15-16; Jas. 2:14,17-20; Jude 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may faith produce fruit in my life.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Thomas a Kempis: true peace of heart

Tuesday, December 27, 2022
    Feast of John, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
    You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
    —1 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For true peace of heart is to be found in resisting passion, not in yielding to it. And therefore there is no peace in the heart of a man who is carnal, nor in him who is given up to the things that are without him, but only in him who is fervent towards God and living the life of the Spirit.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.vi., p. 38 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 3:3; Jer. 8:11; Rom. 8:6-10; 14:17-19; Phil. 4:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant us passion only for Your grace.
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Monday, December 26, 2022

Spurgeon: the spirit of prayer

Monday, December 26, 2022
    Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr
Meditation:
Give ear to my words,
    O LORD, consider my sighing.
    —Psalm 5:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Let us cultivate the spirit of prayer which is even better than the habit of prayer. There may be seeming prayer where there is little devotion. We should begin to pray before we kneel down, and we should not cease when we rise up.
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), The Treasury of David, v. I, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1883, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 5:1; 17:1; Rom. 8:26; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 John 5:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, maintain prayer in my heart.
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Sunday, December 25, 2022

Huss: this day

Sunday, December 25, 2022
    CHRISTMAS DAY
Meditation:
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
    establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
    will accomplish this.
    —Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Rejoice, for this day the holy bread, that is to say, God has made himself food for men, in order to satisfy, with His body, all that hunger. Rejoice; for, this day is born the Redeemer of the world, the Saviour of sinners. Rejoice; for, this day an immortal God is born, in order that mortal man may live for ever. Rejoice, for the Lord of the universe lay poor in a stable, in order that our poverty might be changed into riches. Rejoice, dearly-beloved, that the predictions of the prophets and of the saints have been fulfilled. Rejoice, for the omnipotent Father and the Son, abounding in wisdom and grace, are given to us, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
    ... John Huss (1369-1415), in a letter, Christmas day, 1411, Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1846, p. 52-53 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 9:6-7; Matt. 26:26; Luke 2:7,14; 22:19; John 6:35,53-58
Quiet time reflection:
    Hallelujah!
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