Eckhart: will and intent

Thursday, June 4, 2026
Meditation:
    When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
    —James 1:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Even though I never did an evil deed, yet, if I have the will to do evil, I have the sin as if I had done the deed; and I could, by a total will, do as great a sin as if I had killed the whole world, though I never actually did anything. Why, would the same not be possible to a good will? Yes, indeed, and even much more so. Surely, I can do all things with the will. I can bear the sorrow of all men and feed all the poor and do the work of all men and whatever else you may think of. If it be not the will that fails you, but only the power, then truly, before God, you have done it all, and no man can take it from you or even hinder you for a moment; for to will to do as soon as I can is the same before God as having done it.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Treatises and Sermons, Harper, 1958, p. 74-75 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:13-15; Matt. 5:27-28,48; 19:21; Mark 9:41; Gal. 6:9; Jas. 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant in me Your will for good. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Temple: know them by their fruits

Wednesday, June 3, 2026
    Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978
Meditation:
Do not keep talking so proudly
    or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
    and by him deeds are weighed.
    —1 Samuel 2:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To put it shortly, the Church forgets that Christianity is not an attitude of mind, but a type of life: a man’s spirit is not known by his opinion (creeds etc.) but by his action and general conduct.
    ... William Temple (1881-1944), William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury: his life and letters, Frederic Athelwold Iremonger, Oxford University Press, 1948, p. 99 (see the book)
    See also 1 Sam. 2:3; Ps. 62:11-12; 94:4; Matt. 5:16; 7:24; 16:27; 25:34-46; Gal. 5:6; 6:7-8; Col. 4:6; Jas. 1:22; 1 John 3:23-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, conform my actions to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: second things put first

Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Meditation:
    Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
    —1 Corinthians 1:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In church government... our primary concern is to reflect the nature of God. Christ became man in order that He might redeem men from their fallen state, from their selfishness and self-isolating divisions from God and from each other; so that, gathered together in one in Him, man may offer to God that likeness to Himself in love for which he was created. Church government is primarily concerned with this: with worship, with the drawing of the whole life of the whole world into this reflection of the nature of God. It is secondly—and only secondly—concerned with the quarrels and peccadilloes of those who are not, as a matter of fact, imitating God’s nature very faithfully.
    ... Michael Bruce, “The Layman and Church Government”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 64-65 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:13; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 1:10; 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church is to be in the image of Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: God with us!

Monday, June 1, 2026
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Meditation:
    “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
    —Luke 12:49 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God with us! That is too strong a contradiction, not only over against our sins and sufferings but also against the nature of our existence even down to the very deepest depths of its roots. God with us! That conflicts too much, not only with our unrighteousness, but more yet, with our righteousness; not only with the atrocities of history, but more yet with history’s supposed progress and achievements; not only with the misery on earth, but more yet, with the supposed happiness and satisfaction on earth. God with us! That subjects our total human nature to a judgment, to a No, that will leave nothing left of us, and will bow us under a grace, a Yes, that we cannot comprehend. God with us! That is not only a better man, but a new man; not only a beautiful world, but an other world; not only a higher life, but an eternal life. God with us!
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Come Holy Spirit: Sermons, New York: Round Table Press, 1933, reprint, Mowbrays, 1978, p. 118 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:49; Isa. 7:14; 8:8; Joel 2:30-31; Matt. 1:23; Luke 12:51-52; Eph. 2:13-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Emmanuel, we yield! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brent: thoughtful praying

Sunday, May 31, 2026
    Trinity Sunday
Meditation:
Seek good, and not evil,
    that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
    as you have said.
Hate evil, and love good,
    and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
    will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
    —Amos 5:14-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Pray with your intelligence. Bring things to God that you have thought out and think them out again with Him. That is the secret of good judgment. Repeatedly place your pet opinions and prejudices before God. He will surprise you by showing you that the best of them need refining and some the purification of destruction.
    ... Charles H. Brent (1862-1929), With God in Prayer, London: Jacobs & Co., 1907, p. 16 (see the book)
    See also Amos 5:14-15; Eph. 6:17; Phil. 4:6-8; Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a spirit of discernment for the good and evil in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: for this world

Saturday, May 30, 2026
    Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
    Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
    Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
Meditation:
    He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
    —Romans 8:32 (KJV)
Quotation:
    What do I mean by “interpret in a religious sense?” In my view, that means to speak on the one hand metaphysically, and on the other individualistically. Neither of these is relevant to the Bible message or to the man of today. Is it not true to say that individualistic concern for personal salvation has almost completely left us all? Are we not really under the impression that there are more important things than bothering about such a matter? (Perhaps not more important than the matter itself, but more than bothering about it). I know it sounds pretty monstrous to say that. But is it not, at bottom, even Biblical?... It is not with the next world that we are concerned, but with this world as created and preserved and set subject to laws and atoned for and made new. What is above the world is, in the Gospel, intended to exist for this world—I mean that not in the anthropocentric sense of liberal, pietistic, ethical theology, but in the B ible sense of the creation and of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), A Testament to Freedom: the essential writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Geffrey B. Kelly, F. Burton Nelson, eds., HarperCollins, 1995, p. 504 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:32; Mark 12:28-31; Deut. 6:4; 10:12; 30:6; John 3:16-17; 1 Tim. 1:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace saves our world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Henry: the meaning of affliction

Friday, May 29, 2026
Meditation:
    Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
    —Job 5:17-18 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.
    ... Matthew Henry (1662-1714), An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments [1828], Job 8, in loc. v. 1-7,II.2 (see the book)
    See also Job 5:17-18; 8:1-7; Matt. 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23; Rom. 8:18; Jas. 5:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your healing to my broken life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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