Packer: the fantastic Incarnation

Sunday, December 15, 2024
    Advent III
Meditation:
    Moved by the Spirit, [Simeon] went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
    “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
    —Luke 2:27-32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child... The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation.
    ... James I. Packer (1926-2020), Knowing God, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also Luke 2:27-32; Isa. 53:2; Matt. 1:25; 9:10; Luke 2:6-7,16-18,36-38,52; 4:1-2; 24:41-42; John 1:14; Heb. 2:14-18; 1 John 1:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have known our life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John of the Cross: seeing God clearly

Saturday, December 14, 2024
    Feast of John of the Cross, Mystic, Poet, Teacher, 1591
Meditation:
    “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
    —Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One of the greatest favors bestowed on the soul transiently in this life is to enable it to see so distinctly and to feel so profoundly that it cannot comprehend God at all. These souls are herein somewhat like the saints in heaven, where they who know Him most perfectly perceive most clearly that He is infinitely incomprehensible; for those who have the less clear vision do not perceive so clearly as do these others how greatly He transcends their vision.
    ... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), The Spiritual Canticle, VII.9 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 55:8-9; Matt. 10:24; John 8:23; Eph. 1:20-21; Phil. 2:9-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, without Your revelation, I could know nothing of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: observance

Friday, December 13, 2024
    Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
    Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Meditation:
    One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
    —Romans 14:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One of them having objected to the “observance of days, and months, and years,” Johnson answered, “The church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.”
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. II [1791], James Boswell, London: National illustrated library, 1851, p. 293 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 14:5-8; Ex. 12:14; Isa. 58:5; Zech. 7:5-6; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 5:15; Phil. 1:21; Col. 2:16-17; 1 Thess. 5:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we remember You on these sacred days. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: a new will

Thursday, December 12, 2024
Meditation:
    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
    —2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Holy Spirit teaches us in Scripture, that our mind is smitten with so much blindness, that the affections of our heart are so depraved and perverted, that our whole nature is so vitiated, that we can do nothing but sin, until he forms a new will within us.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles [1551], tr. J. Owen, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1855, p. xvii (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 5:17; Ps. 14:2-3; Rom. 3:10-18,23; 7:18; 8:13-14; Eph. 2:1-5; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 Pet. 4:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, hasten the growth of the new spirit within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: spiritual abilities

Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Meditation:
    Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
    —1 Timothy 4:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I do not know a warning that I judge more necessary to be given to those who are called this day, than to charge them not to trade too much with their natural gifts, and abilities, and learning. These are talents in their kind; but it is the Spirit must manage all that learning they have, or it will prejudice them, and you also. I have known some good men have been so addicted to their study, that they have thought the last day of the week sufficient to prepare for their ministry, though they employ all the rest of the week in other studies. But your business is to trade with your spiritual abilities...
    A man may preach a very good sermon, who is otherwise himself; but he will never make a good minister of Jesus Christ, whose heart and mind [are] not always in the work. Spiritual gifts will require continual ruminating on the things of the Gospel in our minds.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Ordination Sermon (Sermon IV) [1678], in Works of John Owen, v. IX, New York: R. Carter, 1851, pp. 448, 451 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 4:13-15; Ps. 19:14; 119:11; Matt. 25:14-30; Rom. 12:4-8; Eph. 4:8-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray for my ministers, that they should devote themselves to the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Merton: identity

Tuesday, December 10, 2024
    Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968
Meditation:
    Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
    —1 John 4:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence: for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.
    ... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Seeds of Contemplation, London: Hollis & Carter, 1949, New Directions. 1949, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:8; Ex. 34:6-7; Ps. 86:5,15; 2 Cor. 13:11; Eph. 2:4-5; 1 John 1:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are restoring Your image in Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: wholeness in Christ

Monday, December 9, 2024
Meditation:
    For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
    —1 Corinthians 11:23 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us.
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), The Door, Issues 139-150, Youth Specialties, 1995, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 11:23-24; Isa. 53:5; Rom. 6:17-19; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 12:2; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19; 5:8-10; Col. 3:5-7; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 Pet. 4:1-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, our wounds are being healed through Your love and power. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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