Berdyaev: reality or appearance?

Wednesday, September 2, 2026
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942
Meditation:
    And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
    —Matthew 9:10-13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    There is no longer any room in the world for a merely external form of Christianity, based upon custom... The world is entering upon a period of catastrophe and crisis when we are being forced to take sides, and in which a higher and more intense kind of spiritual life will be demanded from Christians.
    ... Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948), Freedom and the Spirit, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1935, 1944, p. 268 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 9:10-13; 5:46-47; 24:6-7; John 9:31; 1 Tim. 1:13-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me choose only that which is authentically Yours and leave customs and forms behind. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rupp: the City of God

Tuesday, September 1, 2026
    Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710
Meditation:
    One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
    —Revelation 21:9-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Here in Pilgrim’s Progress there is the ultimate human nostalgia for that City of God, which is the restless heart’s true home. And even the cynical, the unbelieving and half-believing reader who goes with Christian to the end of the road must be a little shaken, may tremble to see something like a gate and also some of the glory of the place, and, glimpsing something of the company within the golden gates, may wish himself among them.
    ... Gordon Rupp (1910-1986), “John Bunyan”, in Six makers of English Religion, 1500-1700 [1957], Ayer Publishing, 1974, p. 101 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 21:9-27; Gal. 4:26-27; Eph. 2:19-20; 3:6; Phil. 3:20-21; Heb. 12:22-24; Rev. 21:2
Quiet time reflection:
    I praise You, Lord, for the glorious future You have planned. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stanley: Bunyan's "dark night"

Monday, August 31, 2026
    Feast of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
    Commemoration of Cuthburga, Founding Abbess of Wimborne, c.725
    Commemoration of John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer, 1688
Meditation:
    ... the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
    —Matthew 4:16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [John Bunyan] had to live through that obscure night—“wide, vast, and lonely”—which fell upon St. John of the Cross before; like him, he knew that grace would enter “the dark caverns where the senses live.” In the meantime, Bunyan tossed to and fro, as it were between heaven and hell. It has been said that he paints too dark a picture of his moral condition when a young man, that he exaggerates his wickedness at this period, and afterwards wrestles with phantoms of his vivid imagination. But spiritual sins, though not so obvious as those that are sensual, may be just as real; and Bunyan’s intensity of feeling and expression arose from the intensity of his spiritual nature.
    ... Arthur Stanley (c. 1873-1961), The Bedside Bunyan: an anthology of the writings of John Bunyan, John Bunyan, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1947, p. 126 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 4:16; Ps. 107:10-14; Isa. 9:1-2; 42:6-7; 60:1-3; Mic. 7:8; Matt. 9:12-13; Luke 1:76-79; 2:30-32
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am not serious enough about my sin. Help me not to treat it lightly. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: a harmless exercise

Sunday, August 30, 2026
Meditation:
Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
    —Psalm 34:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As to deliberate mortifications—I take it you do feel satisfied that you accept fully those God sends. That being so, you might perhaps do one or two little things, as acts of love, and also as discipline? I suggest by preference the mortification of the tongue—as being very tiresome and quite harmless to the health. Careful guard on all amusing criticisms of others, on all complaints however casual and trivial; deliberately refraining sometimes from saying the entertaining thing.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Letters of Evelyn Underhill, Charles Williams, ed., London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1991, p. 259 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 34:13; 39:1; Pr. 18:21; Matt. 12:35-37; Jas. 1:19,26; 3:5-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bridle my errant tongue for the sake of the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Grou: the test of love

Saturday, August 29, 2026
Meditation:
    Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
    —Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
    We must not measure the reality of love by feelings, but by results. Feelings are very delusive. They often depend on mere natural temperament, and the devil wrests them to our hurt. A glowing imagination is apt to seek itself rather than God. But if you are earnest in striving to serve and endure for God’s Sake, if you persevere amid temptation, dryness, weariness, and desolation, you may rest assured that your love is real.
    ... Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803), The Hidden Life of the Soul, London: Rivingtons, 1870, p. 137 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 5:1-2; John 13:34; 1 Cor. 16:14; Eph. 4:2,15; Col. 3:14; 1 Thes. 4:9; 1 Pet. 4:8; 1 John 3:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to trust You rather than my own feelings. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: the cure for hostility

Friday, August 28, 2026
    Feast of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher, 430
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”
    —Luke 6:35 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Ye have enemies; for who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves: love them. In no way can thy enemy so hurt thee by his violence, as thou dost hurt thyself if thou love him not... And let it not seem to you impossible to love him... Believe first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can thy neighbor’s ill do to thee? If he had no ill, he would not even be thine enemy. Wish him well, then, that he may end his ill, and he will be thine enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with thee, but his sin.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Sermon VI in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. VI, Philip Schaff, ed., New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888, p. 278 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:35; Matt. 5:44; 6:9-13; Luke 23:34; Rom. 12:14,20-21; 1 Cor. 4:12-13; 13:4-8; 1 Pet. 2:23; 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me how to love ____ and ____ with Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: the quintessence of sin

Thursday, August 27, 2026
    Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
Meditation:
    And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
    —Mark 14:37-38 (KJV)
Quotation:
    If there were a righteousness which man could have of his own, then we should have to concern ourselves with the question of how it can be imparted to him. But there is not. The idea of a righteousness of one’s own is the quintessence of sin.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God, London, SCM Press, 1953, New York: Friendship Press, 1954, p. 128 (see the book)
    See also Mark 14:37-38; Prov. 14:12; Isa. 5:21; 64:6; Matt. 5:20; 23:29-31; Luke 16:14,15; Rom. 10:3; 2 Cor. 10:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I always lift up Your righteousness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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