Kurosaki: the value of differences

Saturday, March 4, 2023
    Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
Meditation:
    There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
    —Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The different emphases of many denominations and sects are not bad in themselves. These very differences would profit the whole Body if each group would only be humble enough to recognize the value of the others, instead of making their differences the basis of exclusivism and separation.
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 9 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 4:3-6; Ps. 133:1; Matt. 23:8; John 17:20-21; Rom. 14:1-6,10; 15:5-6; 1 Cor. 1:10; 8:9-13; 12:12; 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 1:27; 2:1-2; Col. 2:16-17; 1 Pet. 3:8; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead us to embrace those from whom we have been separated. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: 7 inter-relational indicators

Friday, March 3, 2023
Meditation:
    If one [of the body] part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
    —1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Seven marks of spiritual health [in] our righteousness toward others: (1) Christians work to glorify God in doing good. (2) God’s children cannot but naturally love one another. (3) A compassionate heart, even toward enemies, is a Christian heart. (4) Impartial reproving, a character of God’s people. (5) Admirable resisting of temptation. (6) A Christian bearing of reproof an argument of much of Christ Jesus. (7) God’s people willing to lose all for God’s glory.
    ... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), Experiments of Spiritual Life & Health [1652], reprinted, Sidney S. Rider, Providence, 1863, p. 37-45 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:26-27; Matt. 10:42; John 7:7; Rom. 9:3; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 4:15; 1 Pet. 3:8; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your church come to mirror Your grace, CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kirk: fools for Christ

Thursday, March 2, 2023
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
    Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
    —1 Corinthians 1:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The fool for Christ holds a prophetic role in Christianity, from the early church to Russian Orthodox “pilgrims” and such later fools as Luther, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky, who were seekers after the true, the good, the holy, the beautiful. They were insane—not in a clinical sense, but in the madness of the Holy, an insanity which ordinary sanity refuses to admit.
    ... David Kirk (1935-2007), Quotations from Chairman Jesus, Springfield, Ill.: Templegate Publishers, 1969, p. 132-133 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:18-27; Matt. 11:16-19; Luke 11:9-10; Acts 17:24-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me boldness to speak the word of truth, regardless of my standing in the community. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Nouwen: the two perspectives

Wednesday, March 1, 2023
    Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Meditation:
    Looking at his disciples, [Jesus] said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
    —Luke 6:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Seen from below, from a human perspective, there is an enormous distinction between good times and bad, between sorrow and joy. But from above, in the eyes of God, sorrow and joy are never separated. Where there is pain, there is also healing. Where there is mourning, there is dancing. Where there is poverty, there is the kingdom.
    ... Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996), Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith, Forward Movement, 1981, p. 134-135 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:20; Isa. 64:8; Matt. 5:4; 11:4-6; 2 Cor. 6:4-10; 8:1-2; Heb. 12:5-6; Jas. 2:5; Rev. 22:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are shaping Your people with Your sovereign acts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Maltby: no substitute for Conversion

Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Meditation:
    In [Christ] we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
    —Ephesians 1:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If [it] yields to the drift of the age and surrenders its hold of the awful but glorious individualism of the Christian salvation,... the Church itself will not be much enriched by an accession of panic-stricken fugitives from a Personal God. And many unhappy young people are discovering now that Church membership is not the equivalent of being reconciled to God, and a kind of Confirmation is not a substitute for Conversion.
    ... William Russell Maltby (1866-1951), Obiter Scripta, London: Epworth Press, 1952, p. 117-118 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 1:11-12; Luke 19:2-10; Acts 8:30-36; 13:48; Rom. 5:11; 8:29-30; 2 Cor. 5:17-19; Eph. 1:4-6; Philemon 1:10; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, restore the authentic Gospel to those who have lost it. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Herbert: Yet, Lord, restore thine image

Monday, February 27, 2023
    Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633
Meditation:
    Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
    —Exodus 32:15-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
Yet, Lord, restore thine image, hear my call:
    And though my hard heart scarce to thee can groan,
    Remember that thou once didst write in stone.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), The Poetical Works of George Herbert, New York: D. Appleton, 1857, p. 44 (see the book)
    See also Ex. 32:15-16; Gen. 1:26-27; 5:1; Ex. 24:12; 31:18; Eze. 36:26; Mark 10:5; Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:3,18; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, engrave my heart with Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Faber: something which pleases God

Sunday, February 26, 2023
Meditation:
    “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
    —Revelation 19:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our small progress deprives us of all natural encouragement. For our minds must be thoroughly saturated with supernatural principles, always to realize that one evil thought repelled, one angry humour smartly chastised, one base envy well warred down, one thorough Deo gratias [God be thanked] in a piece of ill-luck, may be really hundreds of leagues of progress; and each of them worth more than the whole world to us, as something which pleases God, and which God alone has enabled us to do.
    ... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Growth in Holiness, London: Thomas Richardson & Son, 1860, third edition, p. 123 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 19:7-8; Ps. 4:4; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 5:48; Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 5:22-23; Phil. 1:9-11; 2:14-16; 4:8; Col. 3:12-13; 1 Thes. 4:7; Heb. 12:1; Jas. 3:17-18; 2 Pet. 1:4-8; 1 John 2:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are present throughout my day. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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