Pink: God's holiness

Sunday, October 19, 2025
    Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812
Meditation:
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD:
    but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
    —Proverbs 15:26 (KJV)
Quotation:
    God’s holiness is manifested at the Cross. Wondrously and yet most solemnly does the Atonement display God’s infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. How hateful must sin be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it was imputed to His Son!
    ... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), The Attributes of God, Swengel, PA : Bible Truth Depot, 1961, reprint, Sovereign Grace Publishers, 2002, p. 45 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 15:26; Ps. 145:17; Isa. 5:16; Matt. 20:28; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph. 2:4-5; Col. 1:19-20; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 John 1:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in Your holiness, You have saved the sinner. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Vaughan: When night comes, list thy deeds

Saturday, October 18, 2025
    Feast of Luke the Evangelist
Meditation:
In your anger do not sin;
    when you are on your beds,
    search your hearts and be silent.
    —Psalm 4:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
When night comes, list thy deeds; make plain the way
’Twixt heaven and thee; block it not with delays;
    But perfect all before thou sleep’st: then say:
    There’s one sun more strung on my bead of days.
What’s good, score up for joy; the bad, well scann’d.
    Wash off with tears, and get thy Master’s hand.
    ... Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), The Poetical Works of Henry Vaughan, Boston: Osgood, 1871, p. 114 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 4; 26:2-3; 139:23-24; Hag. 1:5-6; 1 Cor. 11:28; 2 Cor. 13:5; 1 John 3:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have preserved me this day. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Ignatius: the soldier's duty

Friday, October 17, 2025
    Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
    —John 13:34-35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Toil together one with another, struggle together, run together, suffer together, lie down together, rise up together, as God’s stewards and assessors and ministers.
    Please the Captain in whose army ye serve, from whom also ye will receive your pay. Let none of you be found a deserter. Let your baptism abide with you as your shield; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as your body armor. Let your works be your deposits, that ye may receive your assets due to you.
    ... Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 35-98?), Letter to Polycarp [ca. 108?], par. 6 (see the book)
    See also John 13:34-35; Ps. 68:17-18; Rom. 15:5-6; Eph. 4:3; 6:7-8,11-17; Col. 3:23-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, unite us by love in Your service. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Baxter: spending time

Thursday, October 16, 2025
    Commemoration of the Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicolas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, bishops and martyrs, 1555
Meditation:
    And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
    —Ephesians 4:30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Spend [time] in nothing which you know must be repented of. Spend it in nothing which you dare not, or may not warrantably pray for a blessing on from God.
    ... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, v. I, ed. William Orme, London: J. Duncan, 1830, p. 240 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 4:25-31; Ps. 4:4; 78:40; Matt. 5:22; Rom. 12:19-21; Jas. 1:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, guide me away from sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

de Caussade: the desire to know

Wednesday, October 15, 2025
    Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582
Meditation:
    Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
    —Colossians 1:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When one is thirsty one quenches one’s thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this condition. The desire to know does but increase this thirst. Therefore when one thirsts after sanctity, the desire to know about it only drives it further away. Speculation must be laid aside, and everything arranged by God as regards actions and sufferings must be accepted with simplicity, for those things that happen at each moment by the divine command or permission are always the most holy, the best and the most divine for us.
    ... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence, I.i.4 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:24; Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 5:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the patience to seek Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Watson: grace accounts for all

Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Meditation:
    In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
    —Ephesians 1:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Let us then ascribe the whole work of grace to the pleasure of God’s will. God did not choose us because we were worthy, but by choosing us he makes us worthy. Proud men are apt to assume and arrogate too much to themselves, in being sharers with God. While many cry out of church-sacrilege, they are in the mean time guilty of a far greater sacrilege, in robbing God of his glory, while they go to set the crown of salvation upon their own head; but we must resolve all into God’s purpose. The signs of salvation are in the saints, but the cause of salvation is in God.
    ... Thomas Watson (c.1620-1686), A Divine Cordial [1657], Religious Tract Society, 1848, p. 139 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 1:11-12; Ps. 100:3; John 15:16; Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:26-30; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone save. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Wilberforce: God reigns alone

Monday, October 13, 2025
    Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066
Meditation:
    How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
    —Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Except the affections of the soul be supremely fixed on God, that unless it be the leading and governing desire and primary pursuit to possess his favour and promote his glory, we are considered as having transferred our fealty to an usurper, and as being, in fact, revolters from our lawful sovereign; if this be indeed the Scripture doctrine, all the several attachments which have been lately enumerated, of the different classes of society, wherever they interest the affections, and possess the soul in any such measure of strength as deserves to be called predominance, are but so many varied expressions of disloyalty. God requires to set up his throne in the heart, and to reign in it without a rival: if he be kept out of his right, it matters not by what competitor.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 163 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 52:7; 1 Chr. 16:31; Ps. 96:10; John 15:19; Rom. 10:10; 12:2; Gal. 1:10; Eph. 2:1-2; Col. 3:1-2; Heb. 3:12; 1 John 2:15; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, call me away from those things that distract me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth