Maurice: individual depravity

Saturday, April 1, 2023
    Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Meditation:
    If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
    —1 John 1:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is far better, safer, truer language to speak of individual depravity than of universal depravity. By individual depravity I mean my own. I find it out in myself; or rather, He who searcheth me and trieth my ways, finds it out in me. That sense of depravity implies the recognition of a law which I have violated, of an order from which I have broken loose, of a Divine image which my character has not resembled. It is the law and the order which are universal. It is this character of Christ which is the true human character. It is easy enough to own [to] a general depravity; under cover of it you and I escape.
    ... Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), Lincoln’s Inn Sermons, v. V, London: Macmillan, 1892, p. 267 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 1:8; Ps. 32:5; 38:18; 41:4; 51:1-10; 106:6; 130:1-3; John 3:19; Rom. 5:18; Jas. 5:16; 1 John 1:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I confess my guilt. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: God's justice

Friday, March 31, 2023
    Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Meditation:
    There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
    —Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Never propose to thyself such a God, as thou wert not bound to imitate: thou mistakest God, if thou make him to be any such thing, or make him to do any such thing, as thou in thy proportion shouldst not be, or shouldst not do. And shouldst thou curse any man that had never offended, never transgrest, never trespassed thee? Can God have done so? ... Will God curse man, before man have sinned?
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. IV, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon CVII, p. 458 (see the book)
    See also Eccl. 7:20; Isa. 64:6; 65:20; Jer. 4:22; Matt. 9:9-13; Rom. 1:28; 3:10-12; Eph. 2:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I acknowledge that I am justly condemned for my sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: the spiritual life

Thursday, March 30, 2023
Meditation:
    As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
    —Mark 2:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For a spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the centre, where we are anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of His reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of His will.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Spiritual Life, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1985, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also Mark 2:14; Deut. 6:5; Ps. 1:2; 51:6; Matt. 5:6; John 4:34; 6:27,38-40; 14:16-17; Rom. 8:10; 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Col. 3:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, do I have parts that refuse to follow You? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: the need for God

Wednesday, March 29, 2023
    Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
    —Revelation 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To need God is nothing to be ashamed of but is perfection itself. It is the saddest thing of all if a human being goes through life without discovering that he needs God.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, tr. H. V. Hong, Princeton University Press, 1992, p. 303 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 3:17-18; Deut. 8:11-14; Ps. 102:19-20; 130:1-2; 147:3; Joel 2:32; Matt. 9:11-13; 19:21-24; Mark 2:17; Luke 4:18-19; 5:31; 15:7; Acts 2:21; Rom. 7:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, do I underestimate my need for You? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chadwick: the possibility of faith

Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Meditation:
    Even as [Jesus] spoke, many put their faith in him.
    —John 8:30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We cannot pray and believe to order. Neither faith nor prayer is at the bidding of authority. We cannot believe merely because we are told we ought to believe, and that we shall be damned if we do not. Faith is possible only where the truth finds an answering note in the soul.
    ... Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932), Humanity and God, Hodder and Stoughton, 1904, p. 305 (see the book)
    See also John 8:30-32; 1:11-13; 3:12; 7:5; 10:25-27; 12:37; Acts 2:41,46-47; 5:14; 6:7; 13:12,48; 17:34; 18:27; Rom. 10:14-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Is God’s truth resonating from my life? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Singh: discretion in worldly things

Monday, March 27, 2023
Meditation:
    [Jesus explaining the parable of the sower:] “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”
    —Matthew 13:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The world and worldly things must be used with discretion, for without them life is not only difficult but impossible. For this very purpose God created the world that men might make use of it, but men should not drown themselves in it, for thus the breath of prayer is stopped and they perish.
    ... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), At the Master’s Feet, Fleming H. Revell, 1922, p. 45 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:22; Gen. 1:29; 2:15,19-20; 9:1-3; Matt. 6:24-25; Luke 12:15; 21:34; Rom. 1:20-25; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; 2 Tim. 2:20-21; Heb. 2:7-8; 1 John 2:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I too wrapped up in worldly concerns? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: the presence of future judgment

Sunday, March 26, 2023
    Feast of Harriet Monsell of Clewer, Religious, 1883
Meditation:
    Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
    —Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Oh, friends, it is not that God is going to judge us some day. That is not the awful thing. It is that God knows us now. If I stop an instant and know that God knows me through all these misconceptions and blunders of my brethren, that God knows me—that is the awful thing. The future judgment shall but tell it. It is here, here upon my conscience, now.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), from “The Beauty of a Life of Service”, in Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 28 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:13; 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chr. 28:9; Matt. 9:4; 19:28; Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22; John 2:24; 5:41-42; 6:64; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:13-16; Jas. 5:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Are there areas of my conscience that I am not listening to? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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