Kierkegaard: turning to God for peace

Sunday, September 8, 2024
    Commemoration of Søren Kierkegaard, Teacher and Philosopher, 1855
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
    —John 14:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To thee, O God, we turn for peace; but grant us, too, the blessed assurance that nothing shall deprive us of that peace, neither ourselves, nor our foolish, earthly desires, nor my wild longings, nor the anxious cravings of my heart.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 85 (see the book)
    See also John 14:27; Ps. 85:8; Luke 2:14; John 16:33; Rom. 5:1-2; 8:6; 14:17; 15:33; 1 Cor. 14:33; Eph. 2:14-18; Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, calm my desires with Your peace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jukes: the untroubled are in danger

Saturday, September 7, 2024
    Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957
Meditation:
    And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
    —Matthew 9:11-12 (KJV)
Quotation:
    I can tell you for an eternal truth that troubled souls are always safe. It is the untroubled that are in danger. Trouble in itself is always a claim on love, and God is love. He must deny Himself if He does not come to help the helpless. It is the prisoners, and the blind, and the leper, and the possessed, and the hungry, and the tempest-tossed, who are His special care. Therefore, if you are lost and sick and bound, you are just in the place where He can meet you. Blessed are the mourners. They shall be comforted.
    ... Andrew Jukes (1815-1901), [1889], Letters of Andrew Jukes, London: Longman, Green, and Company, 1903, [1889], p. 155 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:11-12; Pr. 3:11-12; Matt. 5:4; 6:34; John 14:1; Heb. 12:7; Phil. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I complacent? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Piper: worship abides forever

Friday, September 6, 2024
    Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851
    Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965
Meditation:
    Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
    —Philippians 2:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.
    ... John S. Piper (b. 1946), Let the Nations Be Glad!, Baker Academic, 2010 (3rd ed.), p. 229 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 2:9-11; Deut. 6:13; Isa. 45:23-25; Rom. 14:10-11; Eph. 3:14-15; Rev. 4:9-11; 5:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I have the privilege of worshiping You eternally. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Weil: the source of the beauty

Thursday, September 5, 2024
Meditation:
    [Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
    —Colossians 1:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The beauty of the world is Christ’s tender smile for us coming through matter.
    ... Simone Weil (1909-1943), Waiting for God, Emma Craufurd, tr., Putnam, 1951, p. 164-165 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:17; 1 Sam. 2:8; Ps. 75:3; Isa. 40:26; Matt. 10:29-30; Acts17:27-28; Rom. 1:20; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your care for your people is clear from the many provisions You make for us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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M'Cheyne: your life preaches all week

Wednesday, September 4, 2024
    Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650
Meditation:
    I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
    —Romans 6:19-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this. Your sermon .. lasts but an hour or two—your life preaches all week. ... If Satan can only make you a covetous minister, or a lover of pleasure, or a lover of praise, or a lover of good eating, he has ruined your ministry for ever. Give yourself to prayer, ... and get your texts, your thoughts, your words, from God.
    ... Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843), Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Dundee: W. Middleton, 1845, p. 365-366 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:19-22; John 15:16; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:8-10; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let my words always come from You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gregory: purity of heart

Tuesday, September 3, 2024
    Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
    —Matthew 5:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Purity of heart and simplicity are of great force with Almighty God, who is in purity most singular, and of nature most simple.
    ... St. Gregory the Great (540?-604), The Dialogues of Saint Gregory, P. L. Warner, 1911; Arx Publishing, LLC, 2010, p. 131 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:8; Ps. 51:10; Matt. 23:25-28; Rom. 16:18-19; 2 Cor. 7:1; 11:3; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 10:22; Jas. 3:17; 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a pure heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Talmage: the efficacy of prayer

Monday, September 2, 2024
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942
Meditation:
    And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
    —Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Not one of us yet knows how to pray. All we have done has only been pottering and guessing and experimenting... God cares not for the length of our prayers, or the number of our prayers, or the beauty of our prayers, or the place of our prayers; but it is the faith in them that tells—believing that prayer soars higher than the lark ever sang, plunges deeper than diving-bell ever sank, darts quicker than lightning ever flashed. Though we have used only the back of this weapon instead of the edge, what marvels have been wrought! If saved, we are all the captives of some earnest prayer.
    ... Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902), The Pathway of Life, Historical Publishing Company for the Christian Herald, 1894, p. 280 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 11:6; Ps. 119:151; 139:1,7-10; Matt. 6:5; Acts 15:8; Rom. 8:26; Eph. 6:18; Heb. 4:13; Jas. 4:8; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are closer than my thoughts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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