Moule: valuing man

Monday, March 9, 2026
Meditation:
O LORD, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
    Out of the mouth of babes and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
&nb sp;   whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
    —Psalm 8 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As against Thee, as without Thee, man is a thing of naught; ... as of Thee, man is a pearl of price, the reflection of Thy own personal infinity, the child and heir of immortality. He was formed in Thy creative counsels, O Thou Lover of man, to transcend death forever, and to persist, not in a part of his being only, but in its indissoluble ideal whole, unto the life of the world to come.
    ... Handley Moule (1841-1920)
    See also Ps. 8; Gen. 2:7; Matt. 13:45-46; John 3:16; Rom. 8:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I was nothing till You breathed eternal life into me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Studdert Kennedy: confronting the world

Sunday, March 8, 2026
    Commemoration of Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
Meditation:
    For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
    —1 Corinthians 1:17-18 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The tremendous power of mass-suggestion, which we call the world, can only be confronted, and its victims cured, if they are received into a body which is filled with a vivid, vigorous, and conscious community life of the Spirit. Individuals are powerless to cope with a power so subtle and all-pervasive as this mass-suggestion is. If we are to save and rescue sinners, there must grow up in our Church a Spirit of Love and Brotherhood, a Christian community-life, transcending class and national distinctions, as pungent, as powerful, as impossible to escape as the Spirit of the world. No Apostolic Succession, no Ecclesiastical correctness, no rigidity of orthodox doctrine, can be themselves and in themselves give us this; it comes, and can only come, from a clearer vision of the Christ, a more complete surrender to His call and to the bearing of His Cross.
    ... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, p. 193 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:17-18; Luke 14:27; Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 1:21-23; 2:4-5; 2 Cor. 2:15-16; 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cannot save others, but You can and do. Send Your Spirit, Lord, so that _____ and _____ shall come to faith. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Denney: for the Kingdom of Heaven

Saturday, March 7, 2026
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
Meditation:
Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.
    —Psalm 142:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the well-meaning: it is for the desperate.
    ... James Denney (1856-1917), quoted in The Gospel of Matthew, v. 2, William Barclay, Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1958, p. 9 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 142:6-7; 18:6; 22:2; 40:1; 44:24-26; 143:7; Matt. 8:24-26; 11:12-15; 1 John 4:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cry to You out of need. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: instantly free

Friday, March 6, 2026
Meditation:
    But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
    —Romans 6:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free. No one can hinder him. If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God’s dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquillity under every circumstance.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Root of the Righteous, Christian Publications, 1955, p. 129 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:22; Matt. 5:43-45; 22:36-40; Rom. 5:1; Gal. 5:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I seek Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Caussade: perfection in common duties

Thursday, March 5, 2026
Meditation:
    Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
    —Romans 6:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    There is no one in the world who cannot arrive without difficulty at the most eminent perfection by fulfilling with love the obscure and common duties.
    ... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence, II.iv.3 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:13; Micah 6:8; Rom. 7:5; 8:13-14; Matt. 11:29-30; 1 John 5:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, make me ever mindful of the smallest of my duties, to Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Troeltsch: The Kingdom within us

Wednesday, March 4, 2026
    Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
Meditation:
    Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
    —Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith is the source of energy in the struggle of life, but life still remains a battle which is continually renewed upon ever new fronts. For every threatening abyss that is closed, another yawning gulf appears. The truth is—and this is the conclusion of the whole matter—the Kingdom of God is within us. But we must let our light shine before men in confident and untiring labour that they may see our good works and praise our Father in Heaven. The final ends of all humanity are hidden within His hands.
    ... Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, New York: Harper, 1960, v. II, p. 1013 (see the book)
    See also Luke 17:20-21; Matt. 5:16; Rom. 14:17-18; Col. 1:27; 1 John 1:5-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord Jesus, I follow You as King. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eckhart: the sufficiency of faith

Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Meditation:
    ... yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
    —Galatians 2:16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The less you feel and the more firmly you believe, the more praiseworthy is your faith and the more it will be esteemed and appreciated; for real faith is much more than a mere opinion of man. In it we have true knowledge: in truth, we lack nothing save true faith.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Treatises and Sermons, Harper, 1958, p. 93 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 2:16; Ps. 130:3-4; 143:2; Luke 10:25-29; Gal. 2:19; 3:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to cast aside the counterfeits, that I may cling to Your gift of faith. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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