Micklem: the goal

Saturday, August 5, 2023
    Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”
    —Mark 13:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The idea of endless and limitless progress and development seems unsatisfying both philosophically and religiously; a process only finds its meaning in its goal. However far off be the Beatific Vision, to see the King in His glory, “to know Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent”—this is heaven, and “it were a well-spent journey though seven deaths lay between.”*
    * from letters of Samuel Rutherford
    ... Nathaniel Micklem (1888-1976), Prayers and Praises, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1941, p.36 (see the book)
    See also Mark 13:26-27; Matt. 24:30-31; John 14:2-3; 17:3; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people await Your appearance. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Cassels: the supreme message

Friday, August 4, 2023
    Feast of John Vianney, Curè d’Ars, 1859
Meditation:
    What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
    —Romans 3:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The phrase “Word of God” as used in the Bible itself, notably in the opening sentences of the Fourth Gospel, is an English translation of a Greek word, Logos, which was in wide use among philosophers at the time the New Testament was written. It connotes the creative, outgoing, self-revealing activity of God. The Logos was not a particular divine utterance, but God’s overall message to mankind. It was not necessarily communicated verbally in speech or writing. Indeed, the whole point of Christianity is that the supreme communication of the Word took place when it was expressed through a human life and personality in Jesus Christ.
    ... Louis Cassels (1922-1974), Your Bible, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967, p. 3 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 3:1-2; John 1:1-2; 1 John 1:1-2; Rev. 19:11-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people follow Your Word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Kingsley: what is wrong with the world

Thursday, August 3, 2023
Meditation:
Blessed is he
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
    whose sin the LORD does not count against him
    and in whose spirit is no deceit.
    —Psalm 32:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is wrong with the world in general, is wrong likewise more or less with you and me, and with all human beings; for after all, the world is made up of human beings; and the sin of the world is nothing save the sins of each and all human beings put together; and the world will be renewed and come right again, just as far and no farther, as each human being is renewed and comes right. The only sure method, therefore, of setting the world right, is to begin by setting our own little part of the world right—in a word, setting ourselves right.
    ... Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), All Saints’ Day, and other sermons, ed. William Harrison, London: Kegan Paul, 1878, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 32:1-2; 51:7; Isa. 1:18; Rom. 8:6-7; Heb. 12:1; 1 John 1:7; 2:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen my resistance to sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Ryle: the sinfulness of sin

Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Meditation:
    It is God’s will that you should be sanctified...
    —1 Thessalonians 4:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I am convinced that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realize more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin.
    ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), Holiness [1877, 1879], Sovereign Grace Publishers, reprint, 2001, p. 9 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 4:3-7; Matt. 5:48; John 17:17; Rom. 7:13; 2 Cor. 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, even yet I do not fully recognize my sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Calvin: free will and the Fall

Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Meditation:
    This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
    —Deut. 30:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Therefore Adam could have stood if he wished, seeing that he fell solely by his own will. But it was because his will was capable of being bent to one side or the other, and was not given the constancy to persevere, that he fell so easily. Yet his choice of good and evil was free.
    ... 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.xv.8, p. 181 (see the book)
    See also Deut. 30:19-20; Gen. 3; 1 Cor. 15:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the stamina to resist sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Griffith Thomas: grace

Monday, July 31, 2023
    Commemoration of Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, 1556
Meditation:
The LORD is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.
    —Psalm 145:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Grace means more, far more than we can put into words, because it means nothing less than the infinite character of God Himself. It includes mercy for the undeserving and unmerciful, help for the helpless and hopeless, redemption for the renegade and repulsive, love for the unloving and unlovely, kindness for the unkind and unthankful. And all this in full measure and overflowing abundance, because of nothing in the object, and because of everything in the Giver, God Himself.
    ... W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861-1924), Grace and Power: some aspects of the spiritual life, New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1916, p. 89 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 145:9; Matt. 5:44-45; Acts 14:16-17; Rom. 5:3-5; 1 John 4:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have not deserved the abundant grace You have poured out over my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Wilberforce: natural desires

Sunday, July 30, 2023
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
    —Titus 1:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christianity proposes not to extinguish our natural desires. It promises to bring the desires under just control and direct them to their true object.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), Real Christianity, ed. James Houston, Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2005, p. 107-108 (see the book)
    See also Tit. 1:7-8; Matt. 6:19-21; Acts 24:25; 1 Cor. 9:25; Gal. 5:22-23; Heb. 10:34; 2 Pet. 1:5-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, redirect my energies towards Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth