Allshorn: the importance of pride

Monday, August 10, 2026
    Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258
Meditation:
    Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
    —1 Corinthians 3:18-20 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As Christians, and followers of Jesus, we have not taken pride half seriously enough. But the Devil has. The Devil knows that as long as he can control human pride it does not matter how many prayer meetings, how many services, how much devotion goes on—he can still wreck any group of Christians sooner or later, and frustrate God’s purpose for them; and for the world.
    ... Florence Allshorn (1887-1950), The Notebooks of Florence Allshorn, London: SCM Press, 1957, p. 43 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 3:18-20; Isa. 5:21; Rom. 12:16; 1 Cor. 1:18-21; 4:10; 8:1-2; Gal. 6:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I confess my sinful pride and ask that, in Your gracious mercy, You may purge all that pride from me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: sin as a misdirection

Sunday, August 9, 2026
    Feast of Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mothers’ Union, 1921
Meditation:
    Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
    —Hebrews 3:12 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its trust, not in the living God but in dying men. The unbeliever denies the self-sufficiency of God and usurps attributes that are not his. This dual sin dishonors God and ultimately destroys the soul of the man.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Knowledge of the Holy, Harper & Row, 1975, p. 42 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 3:12; Gen. 8:21; Jer. 18:21; Lam. 3:17-18; Matt. 17:17; Mark 7:21-23; 16:14; John 20:27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I ask that the unbelief of my friends, ____ and ____, may be alleviated in favor of acknowledgement of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: eternal life

Saturday, August 8, 2026
    Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221
Meditation:
    Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
    —Romans 6:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Eternal life is not an unending continuance of this life—that would, perhaps, be Hell—but Eternal Life is quite a different life, divine, not mundane; perfect, not earthly; true life, not corrupt half-life. We cannot form a conception of Eternal Life. What we imagine is ever simply of the earth, temporal, worldly. Nor could we know anything about our eternal life if it had not appeared in Jesus Christ. In him we realize that we were created for the eternal life. If we ask, what is this eternal life? What sense is there in thinking about it if we can have no conception of it?, the answer is, “It is life with God, in God, from God; life in perfect fellowship.” Therefore it is a life in love, it is love itself. It is a life without the nature of death and of sin, hence without sorrow, pain, anxiety, care, misery. To know this suffices to make one rejoice in eternal life. If there were no eternal life, this life of time would be without meaning, goal, or purpose, without significance, without seriousness and without joy. It would be nothing, for what ends in nothing, is itself nothing. That our life does not end in nothing, but that eternal life awaits us, is the glad message of Jesus Christ. He came to give us this promise as a light in this dark world. A Christian is a man who has become certain of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), Our Faith [1936], tr. John William Rilling, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1954, p. 151-152 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:8; John 3:16; 4:13-14; 5:39-40; 10:28-30; 20:27; Rom. 8:37-39; Col. 3:3-4;
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my life is hidden in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Davidman: the withering of morality

Friday, August 7, 2026
    Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866
Meditation:
How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
    How long will mockers delight in mockery
    and fools hate knowledge?
    —Proverbs 1:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The essential amorality of all atheist doctrines is often hidden from us by an irrelevant personal argument. We see that many articulate secularists are well-meaning and law-abiding men; we see them go into righteous indignation over injustice and often devote their lives to good works. So we conclude that “he can’t be wrong whose life is in the right”—that their philosophies are just as good guides to action as Christianity. What we don’t see is that they are not acting on their philosophies. They are acting, out of habit or sentiment, on an inherited Christian ethic which they still take for granted though they have rejected the creed from which it sprang. Their children will inherit somewhat less of it.
    ... Joy Davidman (1915-1960), Smoke on the Mountain, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1955, reprint, Westminster John Knox Press, 1985, p.79 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 1:22; Ps. 10:4; 14:1-3; Pr. 1:7; 27:22; Rom. 1:18-23,28; Eph. 2:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I not be silent before atheism, but speak the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: zeal for souls

Thursday, August 6, 2026
Meditation:
    A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
    —Matthew 12:35-37 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Let a clergyman but intend to please God in all his actions, as the happiest and best thing in the world, and then he will know, that there is nothing noble in a clergyman but a burning zeal for the salvation of souls; nor anything poorer in his profession [than] idleness and a worldly spirit.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 19 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 12:35-37; Pr.11:30; Rom. 11:13-14; 1 Cor. 9:22; 1 Tim. 4:16; Jas. 5:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, inspire Your shepherds to zeal in pleasing You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Theologia Germanica: Christlikeness

Wednesday, August 5, 2026
    Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642
Meditation:
    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
    —Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In short: in all his ways and walks, whether as touching his own business, or his dealings with other men, he must keep his heart with all diligence, lest he do aught, or turn aside to aught, or suffer aught to spring up or dwell within him or about him, or let anything be done in him or through him, otherwise than were meet for God, and would be possible and seemly if God Himself were verily made Man.
    ... Theologia Germanica [1518], Anonymous, ascribed to Johannes de Francfordia, (1380?-1440) & Susanna Winkworth, tr., published anonymously by Martin Luther, ch. LII (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:15; Luke 22:28; Phil. 2:7-8; Heb. 2:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You know all that we are tempted by. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baillie: giving thanks for blessings

Tuesday, August 4, 2026
    Feast of John Vianney, Curè d’Ars, 1859
Meditation:
    Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
    —2 Corinthians 9:15 (KJV)
Quotation:
    I thank Thee, O Lord God, that though with liberal hand Thou hast at all times showered thy blessing upon our human kind, yet in Jesus Christ Thou hast done greater Things for us than Thou ever didst before:
    Making home sweeter and friends dearer:
    Turning sorrow into gladness and pain into the soul’s victory:
    Robbing death of its sting:
    Robbing sin of its power:
Making peace more peaceful and joy more joyful and faith and hope more secure.
Amen.
    ... John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), A Diary of Private Prayer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, p. 103 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 9:15; Isa. 35:10; 1 Cor. 15:55-57; Tit. 3:4-7; 2 Tim. 1:8-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Praise be to You, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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