Wright: the meaning of temptation

Saturday, February 17, 2024
    Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977
Meditation:
    Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
    —Luke 4:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian discipline of fighting temptation is not about self-hatred, or rejecting parts of our God-given humanity. It is about celebrating God’s gift of full humanity and, like someone learning a musical instrument, discovering how to tune it and play it to its best possibility. At the heart of our resistance to temptation is love and loyalty to the God who has already called us his beloved children in Christ, and who holds out before us the calling to follow him in the path which leads to the true glory. In that glory lies the true happiness, the true fulfilment, which neither world, nor flesh, nor devil can begin to imitate.
    ... N. T. Wright (b. 1948), Luke for Everyone, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 44-45 (see the book)
    See also Luke 4:1-13; Matt. 6:13; 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 11:4; 22:40,46; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Pet. 4:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I enjoying the fruits of obedience? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: introspection

Friday, February 16, 2024
Meditation:
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
    —Psalm 51:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We all know that too much introspection can be unhealthy, unhelpful and even damaging. But some is not only salutary, but necessary. Our Bible reading will often sober and abase us in this way. The word of God ruthlessly exposes our sin, selfishness, vanity and greed, and then challenges us to repent and to confess. One of the safest ways to do this is to take on our lips one of the penitential psalms, especially perhaps Psalm 51 (“Have mercy on me, O God”) or Psalm 130 (“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord”). It is a healthy discipline each evening to review the day briefly and call to mind our failures. Not to do so tends to make us slapdash about sin and encourages us to presume on God’s mercy, whereas to make a habit of doing so humbles and shames us, and increases our longing for greater holiness. There is nothing morbid about the confession of sins, so long as we go on to give thanks for the forgiveness of sin s. It is fine to look inwards, so long as it leads us immediately to look outwards and upwards again.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Basic Christianity, Nottingham, U.K.: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008, third edition, p. 120-122 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51; 38:1-4; 102:12; 130; 143:1-2; Pr. 20:9; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eze. 11:19; 36:25-27; Acts 15:9; 1 Pet. 1:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Have I asked for cleansing in forgiveness? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Sanders: two masters?

Thursday, February 15, 2024
    Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730
Meditation:
    Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
    —Romans 6:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The enthronement of Christ in the heart secures the dethronement of self, for two cannot occupy the throne at the same time.
    ... J. Oswald Sanders (1902-1992), The Pursuit of the Holy, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1972, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:16; 1 Kings 18:21; 2 Kings 17:33; Matt. 3:2; 4:10; 6:10,24; Luke 16:13; Gal. 1:10; Jas. 1:6-8; 4:4,8; 1 John 2:16-17; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I secretly want to take control from Him? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Peterson: saying yes to God

Wednesday, February 14, 2024
    Ash Wednesday
    Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
    Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269
Meditation:
    Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
    —Acts 2:38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The usual biblical word describing the “no” we say to the world’s lies and the yes we say to God’s truth is repentance...
    Repentance is not an emotion. It is not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision. It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking that you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbor and your world. And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth.
    ... Eugene H. Peterson (1932-2018), A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 29-30 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:38; Isa. 45:22; Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 6:19-21; Acts 20:21; 2 Cor. 5:17; 7:10; Col. 3:2; 1 Thess. 1:9-10; Heb. 12:1-2; Rev. 3:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I resisting repentance in some area of my life? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hastings: none beside Thee

Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Meditation:
Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
    —Psalm 73:25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer is the expression of a good desire. The human heart is full of restless desires, and the prayers of men consist for the most part of the unsifted petitions which are urged by their varying passions... To desire what is right, and to desire it consistently, and passionately, is the first condition of true living. The desires can be corrected only by truth, the mind must apprehend God, and then it will say, “There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.”
    ... James Hastings (1852-1922), The Christian Doctrine of Prayer, Edinbugh: T. & T. Clark, 1915, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 73:25; 42:1-2; 143:6; Isa. 26:8-9; Acts 20:24; Rom. 8:18,26; Phil. 3:8-9; 2 Pet. 1:3; 1 John 5:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prompt my heart to desire nothing but You, CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watson: God's wisdom

Monday, February 12, 2024
    Commemoration of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (Nicolas Herman), spiritual writer, 1691
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
    “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.
    —John 13:26-28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The wisdom of God is seen in this, that the sins of men shall carry on God’s work; yet that he should have no hand in their sin. The Lord permits sin, but doth not approve it. He hath a hand in the action in which sin is, but not in the sin of the action.
    ... Thomas Watson (c.1620-1686), A Body of Practical Divinity [before 1741], T. Wardle, 1833, p. 54 (see the book)
    See also John 13:26-28; Gen. 50:20; Pr. 21:30; Isa. 7:17-20; 10:5-6,12; 53:10; Matt. 26:53-54; Mark 14:21; Acts 2:23; 3:18; 4:27-28; 13:27-29; Rom. 8:28; Jas. 1:13-15; 1 Pet. 2:6-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You use all things to Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Inge: the shut mind

Sunday, February 11, 2024
Meditation:
The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
    a light has dawned.
    —Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As Christ is our life, so He is also our light. And surely the light means, among other things, the open mind towards Divine things. We need not be afraid of losing our faith by facing all problems honestly, while our lives are on the right lines. But while our minds are shut we cannot help others in their difficulties. We are more likely to turn them away from Christianity.
    ... William R. Inge (1860-1954), Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion, London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1924, p. 75 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 9:2; Ps. 107:10-14; Matt. 4:16; Mark 3:4-5; 16:14; John 8:12; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my mind to Your truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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