Sproul: loving holy God

Sunday, September 21, 2025
    Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
    We love because he first loved us.
    —1 John 4:19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How can we love a holy God? The simplest answer I can give to this vital question is that we can’t. Loving a holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds his holy love into our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him. He is the One who takes the initiative to restore our souls. Without Him we can do nothing of righteousness. Without Him we would be doomed to everlasting alienation from His holiness. We can only love Him because He first loved us.
    ... R. C. Sproul (1939-2017), Classic Teachings on the Nature of God, Hendrickson Publishers, 2010, p. 131 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:19; Luke 7:47; John 15:16; Eph. 2:3-5; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 John 4:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am helpless to love without Your love implanted in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

M'Cheyne: the pleasures of forgiveness

Saturday, September 20, 2025
    Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871
Meditation:
    [Paul:] “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.”
    —Acts 13:38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The pleasures of being forgiven are as superior to the pleasures of an unforgiven man, as heaven is higher than hell. The peace of being forgiven reminds me of the calm, blue sky, which no earthly clamours can disturb. It lightens all labour, sweetens every morsel of bread, and makes a sick bed all soft and downy—yea, it takes away the scowl of death. Forgiveness may be yours now. It is not given to those who are good. It is not given to any because they are less wicked than others. It is given only to those who, feeling that their sins have brought a curse on them, which they cannot lift off, ‘look unto Jesus,’ as bearing all away.
    ... Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843), Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Dundee: W. Middleton, 1845, p. 48 (see the book)
    See also Acts 13:38-39; Ps. 32:1-2; Matt. 11:29-30; 26:28; Acts 2:38; 5:31; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:13-14; Heb. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am blessed by Your forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Ramsey: the wrong wealth

Friday, September 19, 2025
    Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
    —Revelation 3:14-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The ordinary historian would probably not condemn the spirit of Laodicea so strenuously as St. John did. In the tendency of the Laodiceans towards a policy of compromise he would probably see a tendency towards toleration and allowance, which indicated a certain sound practical sense, and showed that the various constituents of the population of Laodicea were well mixed and evenly balanced. He would regard its somewhat featureless character and its easy regular development as proving that it was a happy and well-ordered city, in whose constitution “the elements were kindlier mixed” than in any other city of Asia. He would consider probably that its success as a commercial city was the just reward of the strong common sense which characterised its people. St. John, however, was not one of those who regarded a successful career in trade and money-making as the best proof of the higher qualities of citizenship. The very characteristics which made Laodicea a well-ordered, energetic, and pushing centre of trade, seemed to him to evince a coldness of nature that was fatal to the highest side of human character, the spirit of self-sacrifice and enthusiasm.
    ... Sir William M. Ramsay (1851-1939), The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1904, p. 425-426 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 3:14-16; Col. 2:1; 4:13-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant Your people passion for Your word and Your service. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

MacDonald: do it

Thursday, September 18, 2025
    Commemoration of George MacDonald, Spiritual Writer, 1905
Meditation:
    Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
    —James 1:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Instead of so knowing Christ that they have Him in them saving them, they lie wasting themselves in soul-sickening self-examination as to whether they are believers, whether they are really trusting in the atonement, whether they are truly sorry for their sins—the way to madness of the brain and despair of the heart...
    Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have, this day, done one thing because He said, Do it, or once abstained because He said, Do not do it. It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Truth in Jesus”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 244-245 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:22; Matt. 7:24-27; 12:50; Luke 6:47-49; 11:28; John 13:17; 14:15; Eph. 4:20-23; 1 John 2:3; 5:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am Yours to command. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Schaeffer: repentance for leaders

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
    Feast of St. Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179
Meditation:
    Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
    —James 3:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To the extent that we are in a place of leadership (elder, pastor, teacher or whatever), we must especially hurry to repent because, if we do not, not only will we be hurt but so will the Lord’s work. If we are in the place of leadership, then hurry—hurry and repent when we sin.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), No Little People, Downer Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1974, reprint, Crossway, 2003, p. 59 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 3:1; 1 Sam. 15:26; Ps. 32:1-2; Matt. 5:23-26; Mark 1:15; 1 Tim. 3:2-3; 1 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, quicken the consciences of those who lead in Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Cyprian: the will of God

Tuesday, September 16, 2025
    Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258
    Commemoration of Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c. 430
    Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, tractarian, 1882
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’”
    —Matthew 6:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Now that is the will of God which Christ both did and taught. Humility in conversation; stedfastness in faith; modesty in words; justice in deeds; mercifulness in works; discipline in morals; to be unable to do a wrong, and to be able to bear a wrong when done; to keep peace with the brethren; to love God with all one’s heart; to love Him in that He is a Father; to fear Him in that He is God; to prefer nothing whatever to Christ, because He did not prefer anything to us; to adhere inseparably to His love; to stand by His cross bravely and faithfully; when there is any contest on behalf of His name and honour, to exhibit in discourse that constancy wherewith we make confession; in torture, that confidence wherewith we do battle; in death, that patience whereby we are crowned;—this is to desire to be fellow-heirs with Christ; this is to do the commandment of God; this is to fulfil the will of the Father.
    ... St. Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus) (?-258), Treatise IV. On the Lord’s Prayer [252], in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, v. V, Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, trs., Buffalo: Christian Literature Company, 1886, p. 451 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:6-7; 5:16,39-41; 11:29; Rom. 12:7-8; 1 Cor. 6:18; Phil. 2:8; Jas. 1:5-6;
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that my will may follow Yours. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Owen: assessing your condition

Monday, September 15, 2025
Meditation:
    Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
    —James 4:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Your state is not at all to be measured by the opposition that sin makes to you, but by the opposition you make to it.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX [1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R. Carter & Bros., 1851, p. 605 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 4:7; Ps. 130:4; Matt. 4:3-11; Luke 4:1-13; Eph. 4:26-27; 6:11-12; 1 Pet. 5:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me hate my sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth