Bonhoeffer: the cost of cheap grace

Sunday, September 14, 2025
    Feast of the Holy Cross
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
    “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
    —Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
    Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all he his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 44-45 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:44-46; 16:26; 19:29; Luke 14:33; Phil. 3:7-9; Col. 2:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace is the most precious of gifts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John Chrysostom: the power of the past

Saturday, September 13, 2025
    Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407
Meditation:
    When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
    But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
    —Acts 4:13-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It would not have entered the Apostles’ thoughts to preach what they did preach, had they not enjoyed Divine Grace; and that so far from succeeding, they would not even have devised such a thing. Well then, let us also to-day prosecute the same subject in our discourse; and let us shew that it was a thing impossible so much as to be chosen or thought of by them, if they had not had Christ among them: not because they were arrayed, the weak against the strong, not because few against many, not because poor against rich, not because unlearned against wise, but because the strength of their prejudice, too, was great. For ye know that nothing is so strong with men as the tyranny of ancient custom.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), Homily VII, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. XII, ed. Philip Schaff, New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889, p. 40 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:13-20; Rom. 10:14-15; 1 Cor. 1:17; Gal. 1:15-17; Eph. 3:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word overcomes all obstacles. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Griffiths: Must I face the stormy river?

Friday, September 12, 2025
Meditation:
Blessed is he
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
    whose sin the LORD does not count against him
    and in whose spirit is no deceit.
    —Psalm 32:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
Must I face the stormy river?
There is One to break its flood—
Christ, my great High-priest and faithful,
Christ, my all-sufficient good:
Through His blood shall come the triumph
Over death and hell to me;
And I shall be in His likeness,
Sinless through eternity.

Disembodied of all evil,
I shall pierce with earnest eyes
Into Calvary’s deep wonders,
And its infinite surprise:
The Invisible beholding,
Who is living and was dead;
In a pure, unbroken union
With the ever-living Head.

From salvation’s highest fountains,
Oh, to drink with each new day!
Till my thirst for earthly pleasures
Has completely passed away:
Waiting always for my Master,
Quick to answer to His call;
Then to hold the door wide open,
And enjoy Him, all in all.
    ... Ann Griffiths (1776-1805), in Sweet Singers of Wales: a story of Welsh hymns and their authors, Howell Elvet Lewis, London: Religious Tract Society, 1889, p. 66-67 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 32:1-2; Isa. 1:18; 43:25; Rom. 4:6-8; 5:11; Heb. 2:17; 4:15; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long to see You.

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Law: the need for the Spirit

Thursday, September 11, 2025
Meditation:
    But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
    —John 16:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Read what chapter, or doctrine of Scripture you will, be ever so delighted with it, it will leave you as poor, as empty and unreformed as it found you, unless it be a delight that proceeds from, and has turned you wholly and solely to the Spirit of God, and strengthened your union with, and dependence upon him.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), An Humble, Earnest, and Affectionate Address, to the Clergy, Edinburgh: Guthrie and Tait, 1817, p. 2-3 (see the book)
    See also John 16:13-15; Neh. 9:20; Ps. 1:2; 119:11; 37:31; John 15:26-27; 16:7-11; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your words convict my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Meyer: speaking to God

Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Meditation:
To the LORD I cry aloud,
    and he answers me from his holy hill.
    —Psalm 3:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Cultivate the habit of speaking aloud to God. Not perhaps always, because our desires are often too sacred or deep to be put into words. But it is well to acquire the habit of speaking to God as to a present friend while sitting in the house or walking by the way. Seek the habit of talking things over with God—letters, your plans, your hopes, your mistakes, your sorrows and sins. Things look very differently when brought into the calm light of His presence.
    ... Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847-1929), The Secret of Guidance, New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1896, p. 107-108 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 3:4; Deut. 30:14; Josh. 1:5; Ps. 22:22; 31:20; 52:9; 95:1; 142:1; Phil. 4:5; Jas. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your light enables me to see the truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chadwick: the power of Pentecost

Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Meditation:
    For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
    —1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Go back! Back to that Upper Room, back to your knees, back to the searching of heart and habit, thought and life; back to pleading, praying, waiting, till the Spirit of the Lord floods the soul with light, and you are endued with power from on high. Then go forth in the power of Pentecost, and the Christ-life shall be lived, and the works of Christ shall be done. You shall open blind eyes, cleanse foul hearts, break men’s fetters, and save men’s souls. In the power of the Indwelling Spirit, miracles become the commonplace of daily living.
    ... Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932), Humanity and God, Hodder and Stoughton, 1904, p. 201 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:13; Matt. 6:6; Luke 4:14; Acts 1:8; Eph. 5:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, renew my strength through Your Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: looking for followers

Monday, September 8, 2025
    Commemoration of Søren Kierkegaard, Teacher and Philosopher, 1855
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
    —Mark 8:34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Practice in Christianity, tr. Hong, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1991, p. 237-252 (see the book)
    See also Mark 8:34; Matt. 4:19; 8:22; 9:37; 16:24; 28:19-20; Mark 1:17; 2:14; Luke 5:27; 9:23; 14:27; John 1:43
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me Your true disciple, that I may follow You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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