Redwood: the cause of evil

Thursday, May 21, 2026
    Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
    —Matthew 10:41-42 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Christ] tells us plainly, and without any qualifications, that we are involved in a war in which there is no room for neutrals. Yet people attempt to evade His statement.
    Generally speaking, these are the very people who are the quickest in laying the blame upon God for all the sorrow and sin in the world. They argue that He could prevent it. They excuse their own do-nothing attitude by making of evil’s apparent predominance a ground for doubt of His loving purpose. It never seems to occur to them to look for the cause in mankind.
    ... Hugh Redwood (1883-1963), Live Coals, New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1935, p. 120 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 10:41-42; 12:30; 26:3-4; Mark 9:40-42; Acts 23:6; Eph. 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a servant’s heart, that I may add a little good to the world’s evil. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hanson: denominational blinders

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Meditation:
    Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
    —Philippians 1:27-28 (ESV)
Quotation:
    To us, our denomination is a source of pride: we feel an intimate link with our fellow church-member in Fiji, and we think how wonderful it is that we belong to a communion which spans the entire globe. We do not normally reflect that this sense of solidarity is very often gained at the expense of the unity which we ought to be experiencing with our fellow-Christian next door who belongs to a different denomination.
    ... Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991), The Church of the Servant, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 120 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:27-28; Matt. 23:8; John 17:20,21; 1 Pet. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my eyes to the needs and opportunities for witness and fellowship that are nearby. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Adams: Eternal Lord, how faint and small

Tuesday, May 19, 2026
    Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
Meditation:
O LORD, you have searched me
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you know it completely, O LORD.
    —Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
Eternal Lord, how faint and small
Our greatest, strongest thoughts must seem
To Thee, who overseest all,
And leads us through Life’s shallow stream.

How tangled are our straightest ways;
How dimly flares our brightest star;
How earthbound is our highest praise
To Thee, who sees us as we are.

Our feet are slow where Thine are fast;
Thy kiss of grace meets lips of stone;
And we admit Thy love at last
To hearts that have none of their own.
    ... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985)
    See also Ps. 139:1-4; Matt. 22:36-37; Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 5:5; 1 John 4:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, spread Your love within my heart.

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Barclay: seeing in God's light

Monday, May 18, 2026
Meditation:
    There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
    —Revelation 22:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Here is the great truth that, only when we see things in the light of God, do we see things as they are. It is only when we see things in the light of God that we see what things are really important, and what things are not. Things which seem vastly important, things like ambition, and prestige, and money and gain, lose all their value and importance when they are seen in the light of God. Pleasures and habits and social customs which seem permissible enough, are seen for the dangerous things they are when they are seen in the light of God. Things which seem evils, hardship, toil, discipline, unpopularity, even persecution, are seen in their glory when they are seen in the light of God.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Revelation of John, v. II, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961, p. 276 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 22:5; Ps. 36:10; Isa. 60:19-20; Matt. 25:31-32; Rom. 5:17; 8:18-19; 1 Pet. 1:3-4; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank You, Lord, for the Light of the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Clark: the school of happiness

Sunday, May 17, 2026
Meditation:
The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.
    —Psalm 145:9 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Among Christians so much prominence has been given to the disciplinary effects of sorrow, affliction, bereavement, that they have been in danger of overlooking the other and more obvious side: that by every joy, by every favor, by every sign of prosperity—yea, and by these chiefly—God designs to educate and discipline His children. This one-sided view of the truth has made many morbid, gloomy Christians, who look for God’s hand only in the lightning and never think of seeing it in the sunlight.
    ... F. E. Clark (1851-1927), included in Leaves of Gold, Evan S. Coslett & Clyde Francis Lytle, ed. [1948], Honesdale, Pa.: Coslett Publishing Company, 1938, p. 84 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 145:9; 107:8; 65:9-13; Nahum 1:7; Matt. 5:44-45; Acts 14:17; 17:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, as You cause me to be sorrowful for my sins, You fill my heart with gladness at my salvation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: patience

Saturday, May 16, 2026
    Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877
Meditation:
    Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
    —Romans 15:2-3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    A really patient servant of God is as ready to bear inglorious troubles as those which are honorable. A brave man can easily bear with contempt, slander, and false accusations from an evil world; but to bear such injustice at the hands of good men, of friends and relations, is a great test of patience.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, III.iii, p. 137 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:2-3; Ps. 119:86; Matt. 5:10-12; Rom. 5:7-8; Jas. 5:10-11; 1 Pet. 2:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I fail in patience. Send Your Spirit to instruct me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Paton: God's will in Christian missions

Friday, May 15, 2026
    Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945
Meditation:
    This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
    —Ephesians 3:12 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    The Christian Mission is thus anchored in dogma, is a result of what ordinary Christians believe. It is God’s plan, God’s activity; but because God became man and took up manhood into Himself, it is God’s will embodied in active obedience on the part of the Christian individual, the Christian group within the Church, and the Christian Church as a whole—we are all involved in it, all of us, in our various callings.
    ... David M. Paton (1913-1992), Christian Missions and the Judgment of God, London: SCM Press, 1953, p. 11 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 3:12; Rom. 5:1-2; Heb. 4:14-16; 10:19-22; 1 Thess. 4:13-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Show me what I must do, Lord, for _____ and _____, to bring them to knowledge of Your Kingdom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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