Ellul: the only testimony

Sunday, June 23, 2024
    Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678
Meditation:
    “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” [Jonah] replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
    —Jonah 1:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jonah counts on the will of God calming the storm. This is not a mechanical effect. It is the reference to a free will that Jonah has learned to know already when he was chosen to carry the word. It is the reference to a good will, for outside Jesus Christ there is no full testimony that God’s will is good and his concern is to save man rather than to cause him to perish.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Judgment of Jonah, tr. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1971, p. 38 (see the book)
    See also Jonah 1:12; 1 Chr. 21:17; Matt. 7:11; Luke 1:53; 6:35; 18:19; Acts 27:21-26; Tit. 3:4-7; Jas. 1:17; 1 John 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your goodness reaches Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Olney: the truth taught by Jesus

Saturday, June 22, 2024
    Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
    —John 14:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The great need today among the young is the strengthening of belief in things spiritual, for in spite of the superhuman advances in science, invention, and culture, none of this is attributed to God’s gift to man; in fact, the increase of knowledge and the cult of education have but given to youth a self-reliant independence where religion has no place, and beyond admitting that Christ was “the best man that ever lived,” there are few who concede any other tribute to the Creator. And yet the saving principles of the world are rooted in Christ, implanted in him; the Truth by which men live is the Truth as taught and lived by Jesus.
    ... Helen Olney, Thoughts
    See also John 14:6; 1:14; 8:32; Acts 4:12; 17:21-23; 2 Cor. 1:19-20; 2 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are needed throughout our world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Manton: knowledge as of the blind

Friday, June 21, 2024
Meditation:
    My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
    —Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We know God but as men born blind know the fire; they know there is such a thing as fire, for they feel it warm them, but what it is they know not; so that there is a God we know, but what He is we know little, and indeed we can never search Him out to perfection; a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite.
    ... Thomas Manton (1620-1677), The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, v. 7, London: Nisbet & Co., 1872, p. 469 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:2-3; Ps. 9:10; 119:97; Hos. 6:3; Matt. 13:11,35; Mark 4:11-12; Luke 8:10; 1 Cor. 2:7-10; Eph. 3:2-11; Col. 1:25-27; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:10-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your glory and greatness stops my thoughts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Packer: test the impressions

Thursday, June 20, 2024
Meditation:
    For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
    —Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Mere confidence that one’s impressions are God-given is no guarantee at all that this is really so, even when, as sometimes happens when they are bound up with noble purposes, they persist and grow stronger through long seasons of prayer. To follow impressions, however much they are bound up with the holy concerns of evangelism, intercession, piety, and revival, is not the way to be Spirit-led. Bible-based wisdom must judge them.
    ... James I. Packer (1926-2020), Knowing and Doing the Will of God, Vine Books, 1995, p. 64 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:12; Matt. 4:1; Luke 11:28; 24:45; John 12:48; Acts 5:32; 15:28; 17:11; Rom. 2:13-16; 15:4; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:15; 3:14-15; Jas. 1:22; 2 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let Your word speak to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Singh: heavenly strings

Wednesday, June 19, 2024
    Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929
Meditation:
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath
    praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
    —Psalm 150:3-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This fitness of the heart and thoughts of man is like that of the strings of a guitar or violin. When these are tightened and made to harmonize, then by the touch of the plectrum or the bow the most charming music is produced; but if that is not done the touch of the bow only produces discords. And the production of sweet sounds when the strings all harmonize is again dependent on the air, by the force and motion of which sound is carried into the ear. In the same way, to harmonize the thoughts and imaginations of men the presence of the stimulating breath of the Holy Spirit is necessary. When that is present there will be produced heavenly airs and joyous harmonies in men’s hearts, both in this life and in heaven.
    ... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), At the Master’s Feet, Fleming H. Revell, 1922, p. 86-87 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 150:3-6; 33:1-3; 57:8-9; 68:4; 81:1-3; 92:1-3; 98:4-6; 104:33; 144:9-10; Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:16; Rev. 14:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Spirit of God, You are the singer in my soul. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Piper: love for the light

Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
    —John 3:19-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The reason people do not come to the light is because they do not love it. Love for the light is not caused by coming to the light. We come because we love it. Otherwise, our coming is no honor to the light. Could there be any holy motivation to believe in Christ where there is no taste for the beauty of Christ? To be sure, we could be motivated by the desire to escape hell or the desire to have material riches or the desire to rejoin a departed loved one. But how does it honor the light when the only reason we come to the light is to find those things that we loved in the dark?
    ... John S. Piper (b. 1946), Desiring God, Portland: Multnomah Press, 1986, reprint, Random House Digital, Inc., 2011, p. 72 (see the book)
    See also John 3:19-21; Isa. 9:2; 42:6-7; 60:1-3; Mal. 4:2; Matt. 4:13-16; Luke 1:76-79; 2:30-32; John 1:4-9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35; Acts 13:47; 26:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, drive all the darkness from my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pascal: knowing our sin

Monday, June 17, 2024
    Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936
Meditation:
    Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
    Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
    Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
    —John 9:39-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God is none other than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well by knowing our iniquities. Therefore those who have known God without knowing their wretchedness, have not glorified him, but have glorified themselves.
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #547. p. 177 (see the book)
    See also John 9:39-41; 6:53-58; Rom. 7:24-25; 1 Cor. 1:18-24; 1 Pet. 2:7-8; Rev. 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am certain of my unworthiness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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