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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Wilberforce: a false economy

Thursday, July 30, 2026
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
    —Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV)
Quotation:
    It is indeed a most lamentable consequence of the practice of regarding religion as a compilation of statutes, and not as an internal principle, that it soon comes to be considered as being conversant about external actions rather than about habits of mind. This sentiment sometimes has even the hardiness to insinuate and maintain itself under the guise of extraordinary concern for practical religion; but it soon discovers the falsehood of this pretension, and betrays its real nature. The expedient indeed of attaining to superiority in practice, by not wasting any of the attention on the internal principles from which alone practice can flow, is about as reasonable, and will answer about as well, as the economy of the architect, who should account it mere prodigality to expend any of his materials in laying foundations, from an idea that they might be more usefully applied to the rising of the superstructure. We know what would be the fate of such an edific e.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 167 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:24-27; Luke 6:48-49; 14:28-30; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; Eph. 2:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, create a strong foundation in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the kingdom of self

Wednesday, July 29, 2026
    Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord
Meditation:
    Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
    —Matthew 6:16-18 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Many people not only lose the benefit, but are even the worse for their mortifications [i.e., sacrifices, abstensions]. It is because they mistake the whole nature and worth of them. They practice them for their own sakes, as things good in themselves; they think them to be real parts of holiness, and so rest in them, and look no further, but grow full of a self-esteem, and self-admiration for their own progress in them. This makes them self-sufficient, morose, severe judges of all those that fall short of their mortifications.
    And thus their self-denials do only that for them, which indulgences do for other people—they withstand and hinder the operation of God upon their souls; and instead of being really self-denials, they strengthen and keep up the kingdom of self.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 77-78 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:16-18; Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 8:8; Col. 2:20-23; Heb. 13:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me humility, that I may please You and lift up my brother. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bergman: art and worship

Tuesday, July 28, 2026
    Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750
Meditation:
All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your saints shall bless you!
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power...
    —Psalm 145:10-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is my opinion that art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship. It severed an umbilical cord... In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God...
    Today the individual has become the highest form and the greatest bane of artistic creation.
    ... Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007), The Seventh Seal, Lorrimer, 1984, introduction, p. 8 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 145:10-11; Rom. 1:20-21; Gal. 6:3; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    All beauty is Your beauty, O Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: a two-footed stance

Monday, July 27, 2026
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901
    Commemoration of John R. W. Stott, spiritual writer and teacher, 2011
Meditation:
    Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
    —Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The loving service which God sends His people into the world to render includes both evangelism and social action, for each is in itself an authentic expression of love, and neither needs the other to justify it.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Christian Mission in the Modern World, London: Falcon; Downers Grove: IVP, 1975, p. 109 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 2:10; 2 Tim. 4:2; Heb. 13:16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me boldness in speaking and living the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: light enough to walk by

Sunday, July 26, 2026
Meditation:
    That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
    —John 1:9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [Christians], at their best, know that often they don’t know. They do not have all the answers. They do not have God in their pocket. We cannot answer every question that any bright boy in the back row might ask. We have only light enough to walk by.
    ... Howard A. Johnson (1915-1974), “The Vocation of the Anglican Communion (Theme Address),” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 232 (see the book)
    See also John 1:9; Job 26:14; 42:3; Ps. 131:1; 139:6; Rom. 11:33
Quiet time reflection:
    O Christ, our light! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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