Ellul: Christ the only free man

Sunday, November 30, 2025
    Advent I
    Feast of Andrew the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
    —John 10:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We know God fully only in Jesus Christ. Now Jesus Christ is free, and this—but only this—enables us to speak with complete assurance of the freedom of God. The Gospels clearly show that Christ is the only free man. Free, he chose to keep the law. Free, he chose to live out the will of God. Free, he chose the incarnation. Free, he chose to die. Note the emphasis on choice. Choice is the most tangible expression of freedom.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Ethics of Freedom, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976, p. 51 (see the book)
    See also John 10:17-18, Ps. 51:12; Isa. 61:1-3; John 8:32-36; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1,13;
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You freely give. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Kierkegaard: the value of knowledge

Saturday, November 29, 2025
Meditation:
    After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
    When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
    “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
    ”‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
    —Matthew 2:1-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What a contrast! The three kings had only a rumor to go by. But it moved them to make that long journey. The scribes were much better informed. They sat and studied the Scriptures like so many dons, but it did not make them move. Who had the more truth? The three kings who followed a rumor, or the scribes who remained sitting with all their knowledge?
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Meditations from Kierkegaard, Westminster Press, 1955, p. 38 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 2:1-6; Ps. 72:9-12; Isa. 60:1-3; Matt. 2:9-12; Mark 5:36; John 5:39-40
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, knowing You is better than all knowledge. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Green: ministry: function or office?

Friday, November 28, 2025
Meditation:
    Then the devil leaveth [Jesus], and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
    —Matthew 4:11 (KJV)
Quotation:
    In the New Testament, ministry was a function, not a status. When we talk of the Christian ministry today, we instinctively think of a man ordained to the ‘ministry’ of Word and Sacrament. The New Testament knows nothing of any such distinction. All Christians are called to serve Christ, all are called to ministry, diakonia. The word is applied to Jesus, to Paul, as well as to administrative helpers at Ephesus and Philippi. It is used both of apostles praying and teaching, and of assistants serving tables. Jesus made it plain that he was fulfilling the role of the Servant of the Lord, and that his followers were called to carry out that same pattern of service... The Christian ministry is coextensive with the Christian Church.
    ... Michael Green (1930-2019), “Mission and Ministry”, E. M. B. Green, in The People of God, Ian Cundy, ed., vol. 2 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, P. 68-69 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 4:11; 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:26-27; John 12:26; 1 Pet. 4:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a servant to Your people wherever You lead me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Foster: the divine scrutiny

Thursday, November 27, 2025
    Thanksgiving (U.S.)
Meditation:
    But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
    —1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God knows our heart better than we ever can. He is the only one who can separate the true from the false; he alone can purify the motives of the heart. But he does not come uninvited. If chambers of our heart have never experienced the healing touch, perhaps it is because we have not welcomed the divine scrutiny.
    ... Richard J. Foster (b. 1942), Streams of Living Water, Harper San Francisco, 1998, p. 87 (see the book)
    See also 1 Sam. 16:7; Ps. 26:2; 139:23; Isa. 55:8-9; Luke 16:15; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, search out the sin in my heart, that it may be removed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Watts: What shall I render to my God

Wednesday, November 26, 2025
    Commemoration of Isaac Watts, Hymnwriter, 1748
Meditation:
How can I repay the LORD
    for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
    is the death of his saints.
O LORD, truly I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;
    you have freed me from my chains.
I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
    and call on the name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD—
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.
    —Psalm 116:12-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
What shall I render to my God,
    For all his kindness shown?
My feet shall visit thine abode,
    My songs address thy throne.

Among the saints who fill thine house,
    My off’ring shall be paid;
There shall my zeal perform the vows,
    My soul in anguish made.

How much is mercy thy delight,
    Thou ever blessed God!
How dear thy servants in thy sight!
    How precious is their blood!

Now I am thine, for ever thine,
    Nor shall my purpose move;
Thy hand hath loos’d my bonds of pain,
    And bound me with thy love.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Psalms of David Imitated [1719], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, p. 230 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 116:12-19; Joel 2:32; Jon. 2:9; Luke 12:4; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; 12:1; Heb. 13:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people raise their praises to You.

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Kingsley: truth and chaos

Tuesday, November 25, 2025
    Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century
Meditation:
    The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    —John 1:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a healthy ferment of mind in which one struggles through chaos and darkness, by means of a few clues and threads of light—and—of one great bright pathway, which I find more and more to be the only escape from infinite confusion and aberration, the only explanation of a thousand human mysteries—I mean the Incarnation of our Lord—the fact that there really is—a God-Man!
    ... Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), Daily Thoughts: Selected from the Writings of Charles Kingsley by His Wife, London: Macmillan and Company, 1888, p. 291 (see the book)
    See also John 1:14; Deut. 4:35; Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16; John 20:27; Eph. 5:8-10; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the only true God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth

Newton: Pope Self

Monday, November 24, 2025
Meditation:
    If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
    —Galatians 6:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I have read of many wicked Popes; but the worst Pope I ever met with, is Pope Self.
    ... John Newton (1725-1807), Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, Richard Cecil, ed., London: Hatchard, 1808, p. 265 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 6:3; Matt. 19:21-22; Luke 6:32-34; 18:10-14; Rom. 12:3,16; 14:15; 15:1-3; 1 Cor. 3:18; 8:2; 10:24; 2 Cor. 5:15; Gal. 6:2; Phil. 2:4,21; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cure my heart of self-centeredness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    inst    Jonah    ; Ruth