Moody: little things

Sunday, August 4, 2024
    Feast of John Vianney, Curè d’Ars, 1859
Meditation:
    Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
    —John 4:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord; but few of us willing to do little things... Look at that wonderful sermon that [Jesus] preached to that lone woman at the well of Samaria. He was tired and weary, but he had time and the heart to preach to her. This is but one of many instances in the life of the Master from which we may learn a precious lesson. If the Son of God had time to preach to one soul, cannot every one of us go and do the same?
    ... Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899), The Gospel Awakening, Chicago: Fairbanks and Palmer Publishing Company, 1885, p. 154 (see the book)
    See also John 4:27; Luke 7:39; John 3:1-3; 9:35-37; Acts 8:26-27; Rom. 10:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to know whom I should preach the Gospel to. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: the authority of the Scriptures

Saturday, August 3, 2024
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
    —Luke 21:33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man’s reason.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), De Genesi ad litteram, ii.5
    See also Luke 21:33, Matt. 5:18; 24:35; Mark 13:31; 1 Cor. 2:12-14; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, never allow man to stand between us and Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tauler: listening and learning

Friday, August 2, 2024
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
    —Matthew 26:40-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If ye keep watch over your hearts, and listen for the Voice of God and learn of Him, in one short hour ye can learn more from Him than ye could learn from Man in a thousand years.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way, Sermon XV (see the book)
    See also Matt. 26:40-41; Ps. 19:14; 104:34; Mark 13:33-37; Acts17:27; Eph. 1:13-14; Heb. 13:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me listening to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay: extravagant love

Thursday, August 1, 2024
Meditation:
    While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
    When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
    Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
    —Matthew 26:6-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a certain extravagance in love. The alabaster phial of perfume was meant to be used drop by drop; it was meant to last for years, perhaps even a life-time; but in a moment of utter devotion, the woman poured it on the head of Jesus. Love does not stop nicely to calculate the less or more; love does not stop to work out how little it can respectively give. With a kind of divine extravagance, love gives everything it has and never counts the cost. Calculation is never any part of love.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Mind of Jesus [1961], New York, Harper & Row, 1961, p. 199 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 26:6-13; Deut. 6:5; 30:6; Mark 12:30; John 3:16; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 John 3:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your love is our model. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brother Lawrence: perfect worshiper

Wednesday, July 31, 2024
    Commemoration of Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, 1556
Meditation:
    And [the seraphs] were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
    —Isaiah 6:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.
    ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, Fourth Conversation, p. 17 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 6:3; Ps. 27:4; 29:2; 63:1-2; 100:1-4; 103:1-5; Zech. 14:16; Phil. 3:3; 1 Tim. 2:8; Heb. 12:28-29
Quiet time reflection:
    Praise the Lord, O my soul. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wilberforce: religion and social virtue

Tuesday, July 30, 2024
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    ... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
    —Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
Quotation:
    It seems to be an opinion pretty generally prevalent, that kindness and sweetness of temper; sympathizing, benevolent, and generous affections; attention to what in the world’s estimation are the domestic, relative, and social duties; and, above all, a life of general activity and usefulness, may well be allowed, in our imperfect state, to make up for the defect of what, in strict propriety of speech, is termed religion.
    Many indeed will unreservedly declare, and more will hint the opinion, that “the difference between the qualities above-mentioned and religion, is rather a verbal or logical, than a real and essential difference; for in truth, what are they but religion in substance if not in name? Is it not the great end of religion, and in particular the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate, and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends, and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties? We do not deny that, in the general mass of society, and particularly in the lower orders, such conduct and tempers cannot be diffused and maintained by any other medium than that of religion. But if the end be effected, surely it is only unnecessary refinement to dispute about the means. It is even to forget your own principles; and to refuse its just place to solid practical virtue, while you assign too high a value to speculative opinions.”
    Thus a fatal distinction is admitted between morality and religion: a great and desperate error, of which it is the more necessary to take notice; because many who would condemn, as too strong, the language in which this opinion is sometimes openly avowed, are yet more or less tinctured with the notion itself.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 197-198 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 5:22-23; Eccl. 7:29; Acts 2:40; Rom. 3:10; 2 Tim. 2:24-25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my allegiance is to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: our attention

Monday, July 29, 2024
    Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
    —Luke 4:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we are almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 4 (see the book)
    See also Luke 4:8; Deut. 6:13; Ps. 83:18; Matt. 4:10; 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Col. 2:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, occupy my mind in worship. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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