Niebuhr: love of God vs. love of man

Sunday, December 29, 2024
    Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170
Meditation:
    Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
    —Matthew 9:35-36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We must face the recognition that what the early Christians saw in Jesus Christ, and what we must accept if we look at him rather than at our imaginations about him, was not a person characterized by universal benignity, loving God and man. His love of God and his love of neighbour are two distinct virtues that have no common quality but only a common source. Love of God is adoration of the only true good; it is gratitude to the bestower of all gifts; it is joy in holiness; it is “consent to Being.” But the love of man is pitiful rather than adoring; it is giving and forgiving rather than grateful. It suffers for and in their viciousness and profaneness; it does not consent to accept them as they are, but calls them to repentance. The love of God is nonpossessive Eros; the love of man pure Agape; the love of God is passion; the love of man, compassion. There is duality here, but not of like-minded interest in two great values, God and man. It i s rather the duality of the Son of Man and Son of God, who loves God as man should love Him, and loves man as only God can love, with powerful pity for those who are foundering.
    ... H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), Christ and Culture, New York: Harper, 1951, reprint, Harper & Row, 1956, p. 18-19 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:35-36; 22:37-40; Mark 6:34; John 3:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me love of You and my neighbors. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: the way to salvation

Saturday, December 28, 2024
    Feast of the Holy Innocents
Meditation:
    Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
    Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
    —John 6:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we allow the consideration of heathen morality and heathen religion to absolve us from the duty of preaching the gospel we are really deposing Christ from His throne in our own souls. If we admit that men can do very well without Christ, we accept the Saviour only as a luxury for ourselves. If they can do very well without Christ, then so could we. This is to turn our backs upon the Christ of the gospels and the Christ of Acts and to turn our faces towards law, morality, philosophy, natural religion.
    We look at the moral teaching of some of the heathen nations and we find it higher than we had expected... Or we look at morality in Christian lands, and we begin to wonder whether our practice is really much higher than theirs, and we say, “They are very well as they are. Leave them alone.”
    When we so speak and think we are treating the question of the salvation of men exactly as we should h ave treated it had Christ never appeared in the world at all. It is an essentially pre-Christian attitude, and implies that the Son of God has not been delivered for our salvation. It suggests that the one and only way of salvation known to me is to keep the commandments. That was indeed true before the coming of the Son of God, before the Passion, before the Resurrection, before Pentecost; but after Pentecost that is no longer true. After Pentecost, the answer to any man who inquires the way of salvation is no longer “Keep the law,” but “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World, London: Oxford University Press, 1917, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 37 (see the book)
    See also John 6:28-29; Ps. 89:26-27; Jer. 31:33-34; Acts 2:36,38; 4:12; Eph. 1:19-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may _____ and _____ come to belief in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pink: done with unbelief

Friday, December 27, 2024
    Feast of John, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
    For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
    —John 7:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    None but the Lord himself can afford us any help from the awful workings of unbelief, doubtings, carnal fears, murmurings. Thank God one day we will be done forever with “unbelief.”
    ... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), in a letter, 1935
    See also John 7:5; Mark 9:23,24; 1 Cor. 1:22-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, heal my unbelief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wilson: if we loved God

Thursday, December 26, 2024
    Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr
Meditation:
    But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
    At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
    While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
    —Acts 7:55-60 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The world would use us just as it did the martyrs, if we loved God as they did.
    ... Thomas Wilson (1663-1755), Maxims of Piety and of Christianity, London: Macmillan, 1898, p. 90 (see the book)
    See also Acts 7:55-60; Ps. 2:1-3; John 12:25; Rom. 8:36
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I rest in You alone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Huss: Rejoice this day

Wednesday, December 25, 2024
    CHRISTMAS DAY
Meditation:
    But after [Joseph] had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
    —Matthew 1:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Rejoice; for, this day is born for us a Mediator, that man may be reconciled with God, and that this peace may be spread over the earth. Rejoice; for, to us is born a Physician, to make sinners pure from sin, to deliver them from the power of Satan, to redeem them from eternal damnation, to impart to all a heavenly joy, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice; for, to us is born a King, to fill us with joy; a High Priest, to pour on believers the Divine blessing; a Father, to adopt us as his children for all eternity. To us is born a well-beloved Brother, a Master in every kind of knowledge, a veritable Chief, a Judge of most perfect equity, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice, sinners, for He who is born is the Son of God, the High Priest who absolves all that repent, in order that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
    ... John Huss (1369-1415), Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1846, p. 52 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 1:20-21; Ps. 130:8; Isa. 9:6-7; Eze. 36:25-29; Luke 2:14; John 1:29; Acts 4:12; 5:31; 1 John 3:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let peace and good-will come to our hearts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: Figlia del tuo Figlio

Tuesday, December 24, 2024
    Christmas Eve
Meditation:
    Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
    Sing forth the honour of his name:
    make his praise glorious.
    —Psalm 66:1-2 (KJV)
Quotation:
    What praises shall we voice, what thanks shall we give for the charity of God who so loved us that for us He by whom all time was made became man in time; that He, in His eternity more ancient than the world, became inferior in age to many of His servants in the world; that He who made man became Man; that He was formed in the Mother whom He Himself formed; carried in the hands which He made, nourished at the breasts that He filled; that, in the manger in mute infancy, He without whom all human eloquence is mute wailed?
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), from Sermon 188, Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons, Sr. Mary Sarah Muldowney, tr., CUA Press, 2008, p. 18-19 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 66:1-2; Luke 1:28,41-42; Mark 9:35; John 1:3-4,10-11; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:1-2; Rev. 4:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, what You have done is amazing to us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Huss: the Infant born to us

Monday, December 23, 2024
Meditation:
    And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
    But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
    Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
    —Luke 2:8-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Rejoice, then, dearly-beloved, for the angel said—“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” And what was that joy? That a Saviour was born who would deliver us from all our miseries, and free us from sin. The Son of God is given us, that great joy may be with us, and glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Let us endeavour to insure that this Infant which is born to us may accord us that good-will, that peace, and that joy, which lasts for ever and ever, Amen.
    ... John Huss (1369-1415), Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1846, p. 53 (see the book)
    See also Luke 2:8-14; Ps. 85:8-12; 96:11-13; Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 19:38; John 17:4; Rev. 5:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are worthy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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