Law: zeal for souls

Thursday, August 6, 2026
Meditation:
    A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
    —Matthew 12:35-37 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Let a clergyman but intend to please God in all his actions, as the happiest and best thing in the world, and then he will know, that there is nothing noble in a clergyman but a burning zeal for the salvation of souls; nor anything poorer in his profession [than] idleness and a worldly spirit.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 19 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 12:35-37; Pr.11:30; Rom. 11:13-14; 1 Cor. 9:22; 1 Tim. 4:16; Jas. 5:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, inspire Your shepherds to zeal in pleasing You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Theologia Germanica: Christlikeness

Wednesday, August 5, 2026
    Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642
Meditation:
    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
    —Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In short: in all his ways and walks, whether as touching his own business, or his dealings with other men, he must keep his heart with all diligence, lest he do aught, or turn aside to aught, or suffer aught to spring up or dwell within him or about him, or let anything be done in him or through him, otherwise than were meet for God, and would be possible and seemly if God Himself were verily made Man.
    ... Theologia Germanica [1518], Anonymous, ascribed to Johannes de Francfordia, (1380?-1440) & Susanna Winkworth, tr., published anonymously by Martin Luther, ch. LII (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:15; Luke 22:28; Phil. 2:7-8; Heb. 2:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You know all that we are tempted by. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baillie: giving thanks for blessings

Tuesday, August 4, 2026
    Feast of John Vianney, Curè d’Ars, 1859
Meditation:
    Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
    —2 Corinthians 9:15 (KJV)
Quotation:
    I thank Thee, O Lord God, that though with liberal hand Thou hast at all times showered thy blessing upon our human kind, yet in Jesus Christ Thou hast done greater Things for us than Thou ever didst before:
    Making home sweeter and friends dearer:
    Turning sorrow into gladness and pain into the soul’s victory:
    Robbing death of its sting:
    Robbing sin of its power:
Making peace more peaceful and joy more joyful and faith and hope more secure.
Amen.
    ... John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), A Diary of Private Prayer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, p. 103 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 9:15; Isa. 35:10; 1 Cor. 15:55-57; Tit. 3:4-7; 2 Tim. 1:8-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Praise be to You, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: the capacity for meaning

Monday, August 3, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
    ”‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
    —Matthew 13:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning—just as, if there were no light in the universe, and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know that it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 39 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:14-15; Ps. 119:69-70; Isa. 29:10-12; 44:20; Matt. 4:16; Luke 11:34-35; John 1:5; 3:19; 2 Thess. 2:9-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your purposes fill the earth with meaning. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: can we pray about them?

Sunday, August 2, 2026
Meditation:
    When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
    —James 4:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Perhaps there cannot be a better way of judging of what manner of spirit we are of, than to see whether the actions of our life are such as we may safely commend them to God in our prayers.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Perfection [1726], London: W. Baynes, 1807, p. 78 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 4:3; Job 35:12-13; Ps. 66:18; Prov. 15:8; Zech. 7:12,13; Jas. 1:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me those parts of my life and thoughts that belong not to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: the sufferings of God

Saturday, August 1, 2026
Meditation:
    I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
    —John 17:15-18 (KJV)
Quotation:
    During the last year or so, I have come to appreciate the “worldliness” of Christianity as never before. The Christian is not a homo religiosus but a man, pure and simple, just as Jesus was man... It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, a converted sinner, a churchman, a righteous man, or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. This is what I mean by worldliness—taking life in one’s stride, with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness... How can success make us arrogant or failure lead us astray, when we participate in the sufferings of God by living in this world?
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Letters and Papers from Prison, London: Macmillan, 1962, p. 226-227 (see the book)
    See also John 17:15-18; Matt. 6:1-7; Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 4:10; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me strength to continue faithfully in the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ignatius of Loyola: personal evangelism

Friday, July 31, 2026
    Commemoration of Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, 1556
Meditation:
    Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
    —Ephesians 6:11,12 (KJV)
Quotation:
    As the devil showed great skill in tempting men to perdition, equal skill ought to be shown in saving them. The devil studied the nature of each man, seized upon the traits of his soul, adjusted himself to them and insinuated himself gradually into his victim’s confidence—suggesting splendours to the ambitious, gain to the covetous, delight to the sensuous, and a false appearance of piety to the pious—and a master of saving souls ought to act in the same cautious and skillful way.
    ... St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491/5-1556), quoted in Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, Paul Van Dyke, C. Scribner’s Sons, 1927, p. 87 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 6:11-12; Matt. 10:16; Rom. 16:19; 1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 5:15-17; Jas. 3:13-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we know the enemy opposes evangelism. Grant us wisdom in telling the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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