Lewis: just the pure in heart

Tuesday, February 17, 2026
    Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977
Meditation:
    Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
    —Matthew 5:8 (KJV)
Quotation:
    It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Problem of Pain, New York: Macmillan, 1944, p. 133 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:8; Ps. 15:2; 18:26; 51:10; Tit. 1:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purify my heart, so that I may see You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Goodspeed: in their own language

Monday, February 16, 2026
Meditation:
    And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
    —Acts 2:5-8 (KJV)
Quotation:
    There are more readers of the English Bible in this country than in any other, and the time seemed to me to have come for a frank and direct translation of the Greek New Testament into our modern spoken American English. We take great pains to provide Asiatica and Africana with special versions, so that they may read the Bible each in his own tongue wherein he was born; and why not do as much for our own young people, and our fellow citizens generally?
    ... Edgar J. Goodspeed (1871-1962), How Came the Bible?, New York: Abingdon, 1940, p. 127-128 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:5-8; Isa. 52:7; Nah. 1:15; Rom. 10:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak to me so that I can understand. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wesley: virtue leads to pride

Sunday, February 15, 2026
    Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730
Meditation:
    It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
    —Mark 10:25 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore I do not see how it is possible in the nature of things for any revival of religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches.
    How then is it possible that Methodism, that is, a religion of the heart, though it flourishes now as the green bay tree, should continue in this state? For the Methodists in every place grow diligent and frugal: consequently, they increase in goods. Hence, they proportionately increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is swiftly vanishing away.
    Is there no way to prevent ... this continual decay o f pure religion?
    ... John Wesley (1703-1791), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v. X, New York: J. & J. Harper, 1827, p. 150 (see the book)
    See also Mark 10:25; Judg. 21:25; Eccl. 5:10; Matt. 6:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me from pride. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Campbell: Lordship

Saturday, February 14, 2026
    Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
    Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269
Meditation:
    Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
    Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
    —John 20:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Looking into my heart, which is perhaps the best way of looking into other men’s, I know that the Savior I want is one of whom I can say with Thomas of old, “My Lord and my God.” It would not suffice for my need that He should be only an heroic brother, man divinely inspired. I owe Him my soul, He fills my whole spiritual horizon, I seek to lose myself in Him that I may find myself eternally in life and love divine.
    ... R. J. Campbell (1867-1956), The Call of Christ, London: Skeffington & Son, n.d. (before 1932) (see the book)
    See also John 20:28-29; Matt. 16:24-25; Rev. 19:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Live in me, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dougall: pleasing God

Friday, February 13, 2026
Meditation:
    Blessed is the man
        who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
        or stand in the way of sinners
        or sit in the seat of mockers.
    But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
        and on his law he meditates day and night.
    He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
        which yields its fruit in season
        and whose leaf does not wither.
    Whatever he does prospers.
    —Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We, and all things, exist in God’s infinitude now; our individuality battens within it; our personality grows strong because of it; and we know, if we know anything, that while the more we approach the good the more we please God, at the same time the more men approach the good the more nobly distinctive, the more beautifully individual, do their characters become.
    ... Lily Dougall (1858-1923), The Undiscovered Country, in Immortality: an essay in discovery, co-ordinating scientific, psychical, and Biblical research, Burnett Hillman Streeter, Arthur Clutton-Brock, Cyril William Emmet, James Arthur Hadfield, & Lily Dougall, Macmillan, 1917, p. 370 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 1:1-3; Acts 17:24-31; Rom. 12:1-2; 14:17-18; Eph. 2:10; Heb. 13:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me always to the good. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brother Lawrence: dealing with our sins

Thursday, February 12, 2026
    Commemoration of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (Nicolas Herman), spiritual writer, 1691
Meditation:
    ... let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
    —Isaiah 55:7 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [He said:] That all possible kinds of mortification, if they were void of the love of God, could not efface a single sin. That we ought, without anxiety, to expect the pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ, only endeavoring to love Him with all our hearts. That GOD seemed to have granted the greatest favors to the greatest sinners, as more signal monuments of His mercy.
    ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, Second Conversation, p. 12-13 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 55:7; Matt. 10:37-38; Luke 7:41-47; John 21:15-17; Gal. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 John 4:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I rely on Your mercy more than ever. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: knowing sin and weakness

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Meditation:
    The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
    —Psalm 51:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Our hearts deceive us, because we leave them to themselves, are absent from them, taken up in outward things, in outward rules and forms of living and praying. But this kind of praying, which takes all its thoughts and words only from the state of our hearts, makes it impossible for us to be strangers to ourselves. The strength of every sin, the power of every evil temper, the most secret workings of our hearts, the weakness of any or all our virtues, is with a noonday clearness forced to be seen, as soon as the heart is made our prayer-book, and we pray nothing, but according to what we read, and find there.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 162 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51:17; Eph. 1:18-19; 1 Thess. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You will not turn away from a prayer from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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