Pink: time for the Bible

Saturday, March 2, 2024
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”
    —Luke 8:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We need to confess to God our sin of neglecting His Holy Word. We have time enough—we take time—to read the writings of fellow-sinners, yet we have little or no time for the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is a series of Divine love letters, and yet many of God’s people have scarcely broken the seals.
    ... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), The Divine Inspiration of the Bible, Swengel, Pa.: Bible Truth Depot, 1917, p. 139-140 (see the book)
    See also Luke 8:11-12; Ps. 19:1-3; Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18; Rom. 1:16; 10:14-17; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:17; Col. 1:6; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I neglecting His word? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Capon: it was very good

Friday, March 1, 2024
    Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Meditation:
    And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
    —Genesis 1:31 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The world exists, not for what it means but for what it is. The purpose of mushrooms is to be mushrooms, wine is in order to wine: Things are precious before they are contributory. It is a false piety that walks through creation looking only for lessons which can be applied somewhere else. To be sure, God remains the greatest good; but, for all that, the world is still good in itself. Indeed, since He does not need it, its whole reason for being must lie in its own goodness; He has no use for it, only delight.
    ... Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), The Supper of the Lamb, New York: Doubleday, 1969, p. 86 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 1:31; Deut. 23:4; Job 38:4-7; Ps. 19:1-2; 104:24; Isa. 42:5; John 1:3,10; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Col. 1:15-17; 1 Tim. 4:4; Heb. 1:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me more aware of the goodness of Your creation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Babcock: no substitutes accepted

Thursday, February 29, 2024
Meditation:
    Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
    —John 15:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christianity is not a voice in the wilderness, but a life in the world. It is not an idea in the air but feet on the ground, going God’s way. It is not an exotic to be kept under glass, but a hardy plant to bear twelve manner of fruit in all kinds of weather. Fidelity to duty is its root and branch. Nothing we can say to the Lord, no calling Him by great or dear names, can take the place of the plain doing of His will. We may cry out about the beauty of eating bread with Him in His kingdom, but it is wasted breath and a rootless hope, unless we plow and plant in His kingdom here and now. To remember Him at His table and to forget Him at ours, is to have invested in bad securities. There is no substitute for plain, every-day goodness.
    ... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 48 (see the book)
    See also John 15:4-6; Matt. 15:36; 26:26-27; Mark 6:41; 14:22-23; John 6:11; Acts 27:35; Rom. 14:6; 1 Tim. 4:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never forget my debt to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Robertson: the victory now

Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Meditation:
    “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”
    —Acts 17:29-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Let us not mind what is past. Perhaps it is all failure, and useless struggle, and broken resolves. What then? Settle this first, brethren, Are you in earnest? If so, though your faith be weak and your struggles unsatisfactory, you may begin the hymn of triumph now, for victory is pledged. “Thanks be to God, which”—not shall give, but “giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57)
    ... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons Preached at Trinity Chapel, Brighton, v. III, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1859, p. 289 (see the book)
    See also Acts 17:29-30; John 16:33; Rom. 8:37; 1 Cor. 15:55-57; 1 John 5:3-5; Rev. 12:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Do I have confidence in God’s victory? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Herbert: Thou that hast giv'n so much to me

Tuesday, February 27, 2024
    Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633
Meditation:
    And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.”
    —Revelation 11:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
Thou that hast giv’n so much to me,
Give one thing more, a gratefull heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
        By art.

He makes thy gifts occasion more,
And sayes, if he in this be crost,
All thou hast giv’n him heretofore
        Is lost.

But thou didst reckon, when at first
Thy word our hearts and hands did crave,
What it would come to at the worst
        To save.

Perpetuall knockings at thy doore,
Tears sullying thy transparent rooms,
Gift upon gift, much would have more,
        And comes.

This notwithstanding, thou wentst on,
And didst allow us all our noise:
Nay, thou hast made a sigh and grone
        Thy joyes.

Not that thou hast not still above
Much better tunes, than grones can make;
But that these countrey-aires thy love
        Did take.

Wherefore I crie, and crie again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankfull heart obtain
        Of thee:

Not thankfull, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare dayes:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
        Thy praise.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), The Poetical Works of George Herbert, New York: D. Appleton, 1857, p. 157-158 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 11:16-17; Ps. 35:18; 107:1; 136:1-3; Matt. 6:9; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 15:57; Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:17; Heb. 13:15; Rev. 4:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, correct my ingratitude.

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Gossip: be a letter from God

Monday, February 26, 2024
Meditation:
    You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
    —2 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    You, too, are called to be an open letter, as Paul puts it, written by Christ’s own hand, showing those round about you what things Christ can do. We are to go into the world and so to live our ordinary lives that, all unconsciously to us, those among whom we move will look at us again, and will begin to say, You know I used to doubt if there was much in Christianity save talk. But I have revised my opinion. There’s So-and-so (that’s you, you understand), that is a man in whom the thing is obviously working out. He used to be so touchy, so opinionative, so mean and shabby in his views, so dully ordinary. Yet now, undoubtedly, the man has won to self-control and a large generous mind, and—yea, I know it’s a queer thing to say—but he has won to something more, something that somehow—though he never speaks about those things—makes you remember Jesus Christ!
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 28 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 3:3,18; Isa. 42:6-7; Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 1:8; Eph. 1:4; 4:15; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, have You more changes to make within me? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Beecher: piety first

Sunday, February 25, 2024
Meditation:
    In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
    —Hebrews 5:12-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The way to begin a Christian life is not to study theology. Piety before theology. Right living will produce right thinking. Yet many men, when their consciences are aroused, run for catechisms, and commentaries, and systems. They do not mean to be shallow Christians. They intend to be thorough, if they enter upon the Christian life at all. Now, theologies are well in their place; but repentance and love must come before all other experiences. First a cure for your sin-sick soul, and then theologies.
    ... Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), Life Thoughts: gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, Edna Dean Proctor, ed., Sheldon, 1860, p. 2 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 5:12-14; Pr. 9:10; Matt. 4:17; 11:29-30; Mark 1:15; 10:15; John 5:39-40; 13:15; Acts 3:19-20; 20:21; 1 Cor. 3:1-3; Phil. 2:5; 1 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 John 2:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I mature enough in love and purity to seek the deeper things of God? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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