Jones: following the living

Sunday, September 15, 2024
Meditation:
    The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    —John 1:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is not said in the Book, “The Word became printer’s ink,” but it is said, “The Word became flesh.” Had the Word become printer’s ink, we should have followed a code. Instead our code is a Character. We follow a living mind instead of a fixed letter.
    ... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), The Christ of the American Road, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944, p. 20 (see the book)
    See also John 1:14; Isa. 51:6; Rom. 2:29; 3:20; 4:14-16; 7:6,9-11; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 3:10-12; Col. 2:13-14; Heb. 8:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You live to lead Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watts: His grace

Saturday, September 14, 2024
    Feast of the Holy Cross
Meditation:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    love and faithfulness go before you.
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
    who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
    —Psalm 89:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
Justice and Judgment are thy throne
    Yet wondrous is thy grace;
While truth and mercy joined in one,
    Invite us near thy face.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), [1719] Psalms of David Imitated [1719], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, Ps. 89, second part, p. 182 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 89:7-15; 85:10; Amos 5:15,23-24; Matt. 12:7; 1 Cor. 13:6; Rev. 15:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people pray for the establishment of Your justice among the nations. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John Chrysostom: thrown into security

Friday, September 13, 2024
    Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407
Meditation:
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
    —Psalm 51:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The devil then lies in wait [during prayer], deceiver that he is. For since he sees very great gain accruing to us from prayer, then most he assails us, in order that he may disable us from our defence; that he may send us off home emptyhanded... The devil, when he has seen us coming to the judge, drives us away to a distance, not by any staff, but through our own slackness. For he knows, he knows clearly, that if they have come to him in a sober spirit, and have told the sins committed, and have mourned with their soul fervent, they will depart having received full forgiveness; for God loves mankind; and on this account [the devil] is beforehand with them, and debars them from access, in order that they may obtain no one of the things which they need, [doing so] with no compulsion, but by deceiving us, and throwing us into security.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), A, Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. IX, New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889, p. 237 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51:7; 32:5; Matt. 7:7-8; John 8:44; 1 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never be slack about my sins. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: the profitability of suffering

Thursday, September 12, 2024
Meditation:
    And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
    —1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If indeed there had been anything better and more profitable to the health of men than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it by word and example.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, II.xii.15, p. 111 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 5:10; Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me your restoration. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: it might be so

Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Meditation:
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.
    —Psalm 46:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Partisan Review, a journal of literary opinion representing a section of advanced secular thought, recently published a series of papers answering the question, “Why has there been a turn toward religion among intellectuals?” The asking of the question is significant. Few writers dispute the fact implied by it. Most of the contributors, whether they count themselves among those who have “turned to religion” or not, find the principal reason for it in the collapse of the optimistic hope that modern science and human good will would bring the world into an era of peace and justice. The confidence in that outcome has been so violently shaken that men must ask whether there are not higher resources than man’s to sustain courage and hope. The faith of the Bible points to such sources. God works within the tragic destiny of human efforts with a healing power, and a reconciling spirit. Even those who have felt completely s uperior to all “outworn” religious notions, must look today at least wistfully to the possibility that such a God lives and works.
    ... Daniel Day Williams (1910-1973), Interpreting Theology, 1918-1952, Daniel Day Williams, London: SCM Press, 1953, ed. 3, under alternative title, New York: Harper, 1959, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 46:6-7; 2:1-4; Isa. 8:9-10; Nah. 1:5; Hab. 3:5-6; 2 Pet. 3:10-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Yourself as the only true source of hope. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kraemer: the deep-freeze of the Church

Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Meditation:
    Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
    —1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In all our criticism and near-despair of the institutional Church, it should never be forgotten that many powers and possibilities really exist in it, but often in captivity; they exist as frozen credits and dead capital.
    ... Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965), A Theology of the Laity, London: Lutterworth Press, 1958, p. 176 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Deut. 5:29; Matt. 24:12-13; Mark 13:33; Rom. 12:11; Heb. 6:10-12; Rev. 2:4-5; 3:1-3,15-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, liberate Your Church with Your life-giving word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: the candle of the Lord

Monday, September 9, 2024
Meditation:
    For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
    —Isaiah 57:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is no life so humble that, if it be true and genuinely human and obedient to God, it may not hope to shed some of His light. There is no life so meager that the greatest and wisest of us can afford to despise it. We cannot know at all at what sudden moment it may flash forth with the life of God.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Candle of the Lord [1881], E. P Dutton & Co., New York, 1903, p. 9 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 57:15; Ps. 37:11; 147:6; Isa. 29:19; 66:2; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 5:3; 11:29; 18:2-4; 23:12; Mark 9:35-37; 10:43-44; Luke 22:26-27; John 13:14-16; Rom. 12:3; Eph. 5:21; Phil. 2:3-11; Jas. 1:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never ignore one of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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