Law: seeking God in everything

Sunday, September 1, 2024
    Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710
Meditation:
    And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
    —Luke 11:2-4 (KJV)
Quotation:
    He that seeks God in everything is sure to find God in everything. When we thus live wholly unto God, God is wholly ours, and we are then happy in all the happiness of God; for by uniting with Him in heart, and will, and spirit, we are united to all that He is and has in Himself. This is the purity and perfection of life that we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, that God’s kingdom may come and His will be done in us, as it is in Heaven. And this we may be sure is not only necessary, but attainable by us, or our Saviour would not have made it a part of our daily prayer.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Works of Rev. William Law, v. VI, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also Luke 11:2-4; Matt. 6:10; Luke 6:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Amen. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Saphir: the new covenant

Saturday, August 31, 2024
    Feast of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
    Commemoration of Cuthburga, Founding Abbess of Wimborne, c.725
    Commemoration of John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer, 1688
Meditation:
    The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
    —1 Timothy 1:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    John Bunyan understood the Gospel when he wrote that tract, “The Jerusalem Sinner Saved.” He knew that every sinner is a Jerusalem sinner who has crucified the Lord of Glory; and to whom, notwithstanding all this, the grace of God is exceedingly abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Therefore the Apostle Paul himself is a pattern... of the grace of God abounding to the Christ-crucifiers. A new covenant is made with those who transgressed the first covenant. It is the brethren of Joseph, who have sold him into Egypt, who are made the partakers of Joseph’s power and of Joseph’s riches.
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 191 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 1:14; Matt. 27:25; Acts 2:36; 4:8-10; 7:9-10,52; 1 Cor. 1:22-23; 2:8; Heb. 6:4-6; 10:29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have participated in Your death. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: hope and grace

Friday, August 30, 2024
Meditation:
    Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
    —Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is to no purpose to boast of Christ, if we have not an evidence of His graces in our hearts and lives. But unto whom He is the hope of future glory, unto them He is the life of present grace.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), The Glory of Christ [1684, 1691], in Works of John Owen, v. I, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1850, p. 318 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 5:1-2; Matt. 5:16; John 10:7-9; 14:6; Eph. 2:10,18; 3:12; Tit. 2:7-8,11-14; 1 Pet. 2:12; 3:15-16; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, pour out Your grace to me, so that _____ and _____ may know that You are God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: God as He is

Thursday, August 29, 2024
Meditation:
    Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
    —James 4:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 95 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 4:7-8; 2 Chr. 30:8; Ps. 46:10; 66:3; 145:18; Hos. 6:1-2; Matt. 11:29; Rom. 10:3; 14:11; Heb. 12:9; Jas. 1:6-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I acknowledge You to be my King. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: good from evil

Wednesday, August 28, 2024
    Feast of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher, 430
Meditation:
    Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
    —Romans 5:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit any evil to exist. And if he had willed that there should be no reformation in the case of men, as there is none for the wicked angels, would it not have been just if the nature that deserted God and, through the evil use of his powers, trampled and transgressed the precepts of his Creator, which could have been easily kept—the same creature who stubbornly turned away from His Light and violated the image of the Creator in himself, who had in the evil use of his free will broken away from the wholesome discipline of God’s law—would it not have been just if such a being had been abandoned by God wholly and forever and laid under the everlasting punishment which he deserved? Clearly God would have done this if he were only just and not also merciful and if he had not willed to show far more striking evidence of his mercy by pardoning some who were unworthy of it.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Enchiridion On Faith, Hope, and Love, par. 27 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 5:12; Matt. 26:28; Acts 2:38; 10:43; Eph. 1:7-8; 4:32; Col. 1:13-14; Heb. 9:22; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your mercy is great. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tillich: turning away from God

Tuesday, August 27, 2024
    Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
Meditation:
    As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
    —Ephesians 2:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Augustine shows clearly the religious character of sin. Sin for him is not a moral failure; it is not even disobedience. Disobedience is a consequence but not the cause of sin. The cause is turning away from God, from God as the highest good, as the love with which God loves Himself through us. For this reason, since sin has this character—if you say “sins,” it is easily dissolved into moral sins; but sin is first of all basically the power of turning away from God. For this very reason, no moral remedy is possible. Only one remedy is adequate—return to God. But this of course is possible only in the power of God, and this power is lost. This is the state of man under the conditions of existence.
    ... Paul Tillich (1886-1965), A History of Christian Thought, London: SCM, 1968, p. 126 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 2:1-2; 1 Sam. 15:11; 1 Kings 11:9; Ps. 53:3; Jer. 8:4-5; Amos 4:6-11; Rom. 3:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, by Your power alone, Your people return to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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McGrath: victory over disorder

Monday, August 26, 2024
Meditation:
    [Peter quoting David:] “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”
    —Acts 2:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The resurrection of Jesus is a sign of God’s purpose and power to restore his creation to its full stature and integrity. Just as death could be seen as the culmination of all that is wrong with the world, so the resurrection can be seen as a pledge of God’s ultimate victory over the disorder which plagues his creation on account of the fall. Death is the greatest enemy, and yet death has been defeated by God through Christ. And so we are given hope that the remainder of the powers and forces that confront us are similarly being defeated and their power broken.
    ... Alister E. McGrath (b. 1953), What Was God Doing on the Cross?, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1992, p. 51-52 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:26-27; Ps. 16:8-11; Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:55; Col. 1:27; 1 Thess. 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit has witnessed to Your victory over death. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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