The Christian Quotation of the Day

Moule: the Church's one foundation

2026-04-14T23:00:37.609-05:00

Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Meditation:
    For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
    —1 Corinthians 15:22-23 (ESV)
Quotation:
    From the very first, the conviction that Jesus had been raised from death has been that by which [the Christians’] very existence has stood or fallen. There was no other motive to account for them, to explain them... At no point within the New Testament is there any evidence that the Christians stood for an original philosophy of life or an original ethic. Their sole function is to bear witness to what they claim as an event—the raising of Jesus from among the dead... The one really distinctive thing for which the Christians stood was their declaration that Jesus had been raised from the dead according to God’s design, and the consequent estimate of him as in a unique sense Son of God and representative man, and the resulting conception of the way to reconciliation.
    ... C. F. D. Moule (1908-2007), The Phenomenon of the New Testament, v. I, London: SCM, 1967, p. 11,14,18 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 15:17-23; Mark 14:27-28; 16:5-6; Rom. 3:25-26; 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:3-8; 1 Pet. 2:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a witness in the world to Christ’s resurrection. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: authorities

2026-04-13T23:00:38.887-05:00

Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus concluding a parable:] “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
    “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
    —Luke 16:30-31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The rejection as unhistorical of all passages which narrate miracles is sensible if we start by knowing that the miraculous... never occurs. Now I do not want here to discuss whether the miraculous is possible: I only want to point out that this is a purely philosophical question. Scholars, as scholars, speak on it with no more authority than anyone else. The canon, “If miraculous, unhistorical,” is one they bring to their study of the texts, not one they have learned from it. If one is speaking of authority, the united authority of all the Biblical critics in the world counts for nothing. On this they speak simply as men—men obviously influenced by, and perhaps insufficiently critical of, the spirit of the age they grew up in.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Fern-seed and Elephants, Walter Hooper, Fontana, 1975, p. 113 (see the book)
    See also Luke 16:30-31; Amos 4:6-11; Matt. 13:58; Luke 13:3; Rom. 1:20; Rev. 16:9-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I need Your power and grace in my life, and Your miracles in my struggles. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allison: heresy's victims

2026-04-12T23:00:31.743-05:00

Monday, April 13, 2026
Meditation:
    If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
    —1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What happens to someone who follows heretical teachings? It became quickly and readily apparent how cruel heretical teachings are and how prevalent the heresies are in contemporary times. Victims of these teachings have been encouraged to either to escape the world and their basic humanity into some form of flight and death or to use religion to undergird and isolate further their own self-centered self from the need to be loved and to love...
    The conviction that heresy is cruel has given me a growing awe of and respect for orthodoxy.
    ... C. FitzSimons Allison (b. 1927), The Cruelty of Heresy, Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehead Publishing, 1994, p. 17 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 13:2; 1 Tim. 1:9-10; 6:3-4; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3; Tit. 1:9; 2:1; 2 Pet. 2:18-19; Rev. 2:14-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may your grace and mercy be extended to those who are trapped in heresy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tillotson: God's judgments

2026-04-11T23:00:50.801-05:00

Sunday, April 12, 2026
Meditation:
The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
He will execute judgment among the nations,
    filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
    over the wide earth.
    —Psalm 110:5-6 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If, when God sends judgments upon others, we do not take warning and example by them; if instead of reflecting upon ourselves, and [questioning] our ways, we fall [to] censuring others; if we will pervert the meaning of God’s providences, and will not understand the design and intention of them; then we leave God no other way to awaken us ... to a consideration of our evil ways but by pouring down his wrath upon our heads, so that he may convince us that we are sinners by the same argument from whence we have concluded others to be so.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. X, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon CCLIII, p. 154-155 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 110:5-6; Mic. 6:9; Luke 13:5; Rom. 11:33
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have my attention. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: his Saviour still

2026-04-10T23:00:50.197-05:00

Saturday, April 11, 2026
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
Meditation:
    For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
    —Romans 5:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    But must we believe that Judas, who repented even to agony, who repented so that his high-prized life, self, soul, became worthless in his eyes and met with no mercy at his own hand,—must we believe he could find no mercy in such a God? I think when Judas fled from his hanged and fallen body, he fled to the tender help of Jesus, and found it—I say not how. He was in a more hopeful condition now than during any moment of his past life, for he had never repented before. But I believe that Jesus loved Judas even when he was kissing Him with the traitor’s kiss; and I believe that He was his Saviour still.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “It Shall Not Be Forgiven”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 94-95 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51:17; Matt. 27:3-5; Luke 22:47-48; John 1:16; Acts 1:16-20; Rom. 5:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your forgiveness is abundant. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: reform or rebirth?

2026-04-09T23:00:35.653-05:00

Friday, April 10, 2026
    Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
    Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
    Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955
Meditation:
    For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
    —Romans 6:5-7 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Christianity does not consist in any partial amendment of our lives, any particular moral virtues, but in an entire change of our natural temper, a life wholly devoted to God.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Perfection [1726], London: W. Baynes, 1807, p. 34 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:4-7; Isa. 26:13; John 8:34-36; Rom. 8:3-4; 12:1-2; Col. 2:11-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given me freedom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: Scripture and understanding

2026-04-08T23:00:05.749-05:00

Thursday, April 9, 2026
    Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945
Meditation:
    And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
    —2 Peter 1:19-21 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Not only the young Christian but also the adult Christian will complain that the Scripture reading is often too long for him, and that much therein he does not understand. To this it must be said that, for the mature Christian, every Scripture reading will be “too long,” even the shortest one, [for] the Scripture is a whole, and every word, every sentence, possesses such multiple relationships with the whole that it is impossible always to keep the whole in view when listening to details. It becomes apparent, therefore, that the whole of Scripture, and hence every passage in it as well, far surpasses our understanding. It is good for us to be daily reminded of this fact.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 61 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:19-21; Ps. 1:2-3; 19:7-9; 119:97; Luke 16:29-31; 24:44; John 5:39-40; Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; 1 Pet. 1:10-12; 2 Pet. 3:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit to open the Scriptures to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Glover: the testament of suffering

2026-04-07T23:00:48.478-05:00

Wednesday, April 8, 2026
    Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877
Meditation:
    Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...
    —2 Timothy 1:8-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Belief in immortality for us does not depend on a story, however well attested, in an ancient book... No, here was a sequence of great character and emancipated spirit, all attached to and explained by such a personality as the world never saw; and the central doctrine of the risen Christ squared with the rationality and the goodness of God... The wise said that God and the godlike could have no contact with suffering, but Jesus was no phantom feigning to be crucified; he truly suffered on the cross, he truly rose. Suffering is a language all can understand, and none can quite exhaust; and the suffering Christ, victorious over pain and death, meant for all who grasped his significance a new faith in God, a new freedom of mind in God.
    ... T. R. Glover (1869-1943), The Influence of Christ in the Ancient World, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929, p. 99 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 1:8-10; Col. 2:8,18-22; 1 Tim. 4:7; 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 3:12-13; 2 Pet. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have paid a far higher price for my liberty than I ever shall. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Glover: the living testament

2026-04-06T23:00:34.239-05:00

Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Meditation:
    “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.
    —John 7:46 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The real conviction of the living Christ was not carried to the world by a book nor by a story. Men might allege that they had seen the risen Lord; that was nothing till they themselves were known. The witness of the resurrection was not the word of Paul (as we see at Athens) nor of the Eleven; it was the new power in life and death that the world saw in changed men...
    The legend of a reputed resurrection of some unknown person in Palestine nobody needed to consider; but what were you to do with the people who died in the arena, the re-born slaves with their newness of life in your own house? And when you “looked into the story,” it was no mere somebody or other of whom they told it. The conviction of the people you knew, amazing in its power of transforming character and winning first the goodwill and the trust and then the conversion of others, was supported and confirmed by the nature and personality of the Man of whom they spoke, of whom you read in their books. “Never man spake like this man,” you read, nor thought like this man, nor like this man believed in God. I can not but think that the factors that make a man Christian to-day were those that won the world then. Our age and that age, in culture, in hopes and fears, in loss of nerve, are not unlike. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... T. R. Glover (1869-1943), The Influence of Christ in the Ancient World, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929, p. 96,98-99 (see the book)
    See also John 7:46; 5:21; Acts 17:18,32; 1 Cor. 2:4-5; 2 Cor. 10:5; Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 1:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I was dead, and You raised me to life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Michelangelo: Now hath my life across a stormy sea

2026-04-05T23:00:00.001-05:00

Monday, April 6, 2026
    Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564
Meditation:
You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
    O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
    —Psalm 30:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
On the Brink of Death.

Now hath my life across a stormy sea,
    Like a frail bark, reached that wide port where all
    Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall
    Of good and evil for eternity.
Now know I well how that fond phantasy
    Which made my soul the worshipper and thrall
    Of earthly art is vain; how criminal
    Is that which all men seek unwillingly.
Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed,
    What are they when the double death is nigh?
    The one I know for sure, the other dread.
Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest
    My soul, that turns to His great love on high,
    Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread.
    ... Michelangelo Buonarrotti (1475-1564), The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, v. II, J. A. Symonds, London: J. C. Nimmo, 1893, p. 309 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 30:11-12; John 6:51; Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 9:25; 1 John 2:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Raise me, Lord, to meet You.

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Winter: the resurrected Lord

2026-04-04T23:00:00.001-05:00

Sunday, April 5, 2026
    Easter
Meditation:
    When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
    —John 21:9-12 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It was undoubtedly a real body. Hundreds of people could not have been so mistaken, especially when Jesus offered clear evidence of it. But it was not an earthbound body. It was something that bore a developmental relationship to an earthly human body, but it was not identical with it. There was clearly a continuity of life between the body of Jesus and the body of the resurrected Jesus, but in the time between his death and resurrection it had undergone a very fundamental change. That, at least, seems clear.
    So much for the list of dissimilarities: the body of Jesus after the resurrection had a different appearance and also a different form. It was like the previous body, it had some sort of developmental relationship to it, but it was obviously not identical with it.
    Now we must consider the similarities. Strangely, they all came down to one factor, but that factor is so important that it outweighs all the dissimilarities. It is simply this: Jesus before and after the resurrection was undeniably the same person. No matter what extraordinary changes had taken place in his bodily form, all who knew him well had no doubt at all who he was. They “knew” it was the Lord.
    ... David Winter, Hereafter, Wheaton, Ill.: Shaw Publishers, 1972, p. 58-59 (see the book)
    See also John 21:9-12; Luke 24:30-31,36-43; John 20:26-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, though I have not seen You with my eyes, I know it is You in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Collyer: Easter

2026-04-03T23:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday, April 4, 2026
    Holy Saturday
Meditation:
    But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
    —Luke 24:1-7 (ESV)
Quotation:
Morning breaks upon the tomb,
Jesus dissipates its gloom.
Day of triumph through the skies—
See the glorious Saviour rise.

Christians dry your flowing tears,
Chase those unbelieving fears;
Look on his deserted grave,
Doubt no more his power to save.

Ye who are of death afraid,
Triumph in the scatter’d shade:
Drive your anxious cares away,
See the place where Jesus lay.
    ... William Bengo Collyer (1782-1854), Hymns, partly collected and partly original, London: Longman, Hunt, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812, p. 887 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:1-12; Matt. 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-10; John 20:1-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have broken the curse we were under. Show me where I must spread the good news.

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Meynell: all alone

2026-04-02T23:00:00.001-05:00

Friday, April 3, 2026
    Good Friday
Meditation:
    The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
    —Matthew 28:5-7
Quotation:
All night had shouts of men and cry
    Of woeful women filled His way;
Until that noon of sombre sky
    On Friday, clamour and display
Smote Him; no solitude had He.
No silence, since Gethsemane.

Public was death; but Power, but Might,
    But Life again, but Victory,
Were hushed within the dead of night,
    The shutter’d dark, the secrecy.
And all alone, alone, alone
He rose again behind the stone.
    ... Alice Meynell (1847-1922), A Father of Women: and other poems, Burns & Oates, 1917, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 28:5-7; 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; John 19:25-27
Quiet time reflection:
    You rose again, according to the promise of the Father. Because of You, I now have the same promise.

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Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: Good Friday

2026-04-01T23:00:00.001-05:00

Thursday, April 2, 2026
    Maundy Thursday
Meditation:
    When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
    —John 21:15-17 (ESV)
Quotation:
Good Friday in my heart! Fear and affright!
My thoughts are the disciples when they fled,
My words the words that priest and soldier said,
My deed the spear to desecrate the dead.
And day, Thy death therein, is changed to night.

Then Easter in my heart sends up the sun.
My thoughts are Mary, when she turned to see.
My words are Peter, answering, “Lov’st thou me?”
My deeds are all Thine own drawn close to Thee.
And night and day, since thou dost rise, are one.
    ... Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907), Poems, London: Elkin Mathews, 1908, p. 148-149 (see the book)
    See also John 21:15-17; Ps. 51:7; Isa. 53:2-11; Matt. 26:56; Mark 14:50; John 16:32; 19:34
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I return Your love to me.

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Watt: an Easter vow

2026-03-31T23:00:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, April 1, 2026
    Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Meditation:
    But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
    —Romans 6:17-18 (ESV)
Quotation:
I bind my heart, this tide
To the Galilean’s side,
To the wounds of Calvary—
To the Christ who died for me.

I bind my soul this day
To the brother far away
And the brother near at hand,
In this town and in this land.

I bind my heart in thrall
To God, the Lord of all,
To God, the poor man’s Friend,
And the Christ whom He did send.

I bind myself to peace,
To make strife and envy cease.
God, knit Thou sure the cord
Of my thralldom to my Lord.
    ... Lauchlan MacLean Watt (1867-1957), included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 373 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:17-18; Deut. 6:13; 10:20; Josh. 24:14-15; 1 Sam. 12:24; Isa. 56:6-7; John 3:34
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, to You I owe all loyalty because of Your death and resurrection.

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Donne: sleep and death

2026-03-30T23:00:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, March 31, 2026
    Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Meditation:
    But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
    —1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Though natural men, who have induced secondary and figurative consideration, have found out this... emblematical use of sleep, that it should be a representation of death, God, who wrought and perfected his work, before Nature began, (for Nature was but his Apprentice, to learn in the first seven days, and now is his foreman, and works next under him) God, I say, intended sleep only for the refreshing of man by bodily rest, and not for a figure of death, for he intended not death itself then. But man having induced death upon himself, God hath taken man’s creature, death, into his hand, and mended it; and whereas it hath in itself a fearfull form and aspect, so that Man is afraid of his own creature, God presents it to him, in a familiar, in an assiduous, in an agreeable, and acceptable form, in sleep, that so when he awakes from sleep and says to himself, shall I be no otherwise when I am dead, than I was even now, when I was asleep, he may be ashamed of his waking dreams, and of his melancholy fancying out a horrid and an affrightful figure of that death which is so like sleep. As then we need sleep to live out our threescore and ten years, so we need death, to live that life which we cannot outlive.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. III, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Devotions XV, p. 566 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 4:13-15; John 11:11-13; 1 Cor. 15:17-22,51-57
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, when I sleep, may I always awaken in Your presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Berdyaev: the entrance to heaven

2026-03-29T23:00:00.001-05:00

Monday, March 30, 2026
Meditation:
    For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison...
    —1 Peter 3:18-19 (ESV)
Quotation:
    For Christian consciousness, paradise is the Kingdom of Christ and is unthinkable apart from Christ. But this changes everything. The cross and the crucifixion enter into the bliss of paradise. The Son of God and the Son of Man descends into hell to free those who suffer there... To conquer evil, the good must crucify itself.
    ... Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948), The Destiny of Man, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1937, Hyperion Press, 1979, p. 292 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 3:18-19; Luke 23:43; Matt. 16:21; John 14:2-3; 19:11; Heb. 9:23-26; Rev. 2:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have ransomed me, at what a cost! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: the heavenly duty

2026-03-28T23:00:00.001-05:00

Sunday, March 29, 2026
    Palm Sunday
    Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
Meditation:
    Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
    —Revelation 5:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), for Oct. 30, Morning by Morning, New York: Sheldon & Co., 1867, p. 304 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 5:11-12; Ps. 9:1; 96:1; 149:1; Isa. 6:2-3; Rev. 4:8-9; 5:9; 7:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I sing Your praises. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hanson: the final rebellion

2026-03-27T23:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday, March 28, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
    —Matthew 23:37-39 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Here [in Matthew 23] is an interpretation of Israel’s history according to which God’s people have always been disobedient and rebellious: their alienation from God, it is clearly implied, is to reach its climax in the murder of the Messiah himself.
    ... Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991), The Church of the Servant, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 23:37-39; 12:39; 16:4; 17:17; Mark 8:12,38; 9:19; Luke 9:41; 11:29-30
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, extinguish the rebellious Jerusalem inside me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Short: the testimony of witnesses

2026-03-26T23:00:00.001-05:00

Friday, March 27, 2026
Meditation:
    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
    —Romans 15:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The New Testament is an intensely personal document. It is not the effort of a group of men who are out to prove something to us by the force of their rational arguments. But it is the testimony, or testament, of a group of witnesses... who are bent on simply reporting to us the experience of a love that overtook them and overwhelmed them, a peace that passed all their understanding, and a peace that they in turn would pass on to us.
    ... Robert L. Short (1932-2009), The Parables of Peanuts [1968], New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 249 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:13; John 21:24; Acts 14:15-17; Phil. 4:7; 1 Cor. 2:1-2; 1 John 5:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive Your Testament. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bronnert: The light shines in the darkness

2026-03-25T23:00:00.001-05:00

Thursday, March 26, 2026
    Feast of Harriet Monsell of Clewer, Religious, 1883
Meditation:
    But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
    —Malachi 4:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The light shines in the darkness

    Candles are always popular for giving a warm romantic glow and this time of year they are to be seen on many different occasions. Of course a candle is easy to blow out! So much so that its flickering light was chosen by Shakespeare as a picture of the transitory nature of life. Out out brief candle!
    Darkness is a reminder of evil, for it is in the darkness that people get lost, stumble and fall. It is in the darkness that power is misused, corruption reigns and evil is done. It is easy to imagine that in the end evil will triumph and the light will disappear. Situations change. Familiar landmarks—like this magazine!—disappear. There is the unrelenting pressure of a vanity fair society. The candle burns down and gives a thin wisp of smoke before going out.
    But there are also the special party candles that keep bursting back into life. They are a much better picture of the light of the gospel! For though they have been numerous attempts down the centuries to extinguish the light, it has kept on bursting back into flame.
    The light of Christ keeps on shining. New ways of sharing the good news come along. New believers are attracted to his light. Sleepy Christians are re-awakened. Fresh discoveries give even more confidence in the truth of the Bible.
    The light keeps on shining in the darkness. It is a statement and a promise at the same time. It is isn’t that once the light shone, but rather, that in the present it shines, and it will do so in the future as well. For the light comes from the one who is, as well as who was, and is also the one who is to come.
    ... David Bronnert, in a personal communication from the author
    See also Mal. 4:2; Luke 11:35-36; John 1:4-5,9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my light within is only darkness; I truly see by Your light alone.

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Calvin: literary grace and the Scriptures

2026-03-24T23:00:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, March 25, 2026
    Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary
Meditation:
    Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”
    —Amos 7:14-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Since such uncultivated and rude simplicity [with which the Gospel was communicated] inspires greater reverence for itself than any eloquence, what ought one to conclude except that the force of Sacred Scripture is manifestly too powerful to need the art of words?
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.viii.1 (see the book)
    See also Amos 7:14-15; Matt. 11:25; John 7:14-16; Acts 4:13; 1 Cor. 1:26-29; 1 John 5:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word never fails. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: devotion of the will

2026-03-23T23:00:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, March 24, 2026
    Feast of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980
    Commemoration of Paul Couturier, Priest, Ecumenist, 1953
Meditation:
    I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
    —2 Corinthians 11:2-3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Devotion is neither more nor less than a prompt, fervent, loving service to God. And the difference between an ordinarily good man and one that is devout lies herein, that the first observes God’s commands without any special fervour or promptitude; whereas the latter not only keeps them, but does it willingly, earnestly, and resolutely.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), A Selection from the Spiritual Letters of St. Francis de Sales [1622], New York: E. P. Dutton, 1876, p. 16 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 11:2-3; Deut. 6:5; 11:13-14; Mark 12:22; 1 John 5:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a willing heart to obey Your commands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: loyalty to a Person

2026-03-22T23:00:00.001-05:00

Monday, March 23, 2026
Meditation:
    And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
    —Acts 4:24-28 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The characteristic of our modern Christianity, which correlates it with all apostolic times, is the substitution of loyalty to a person in place of belief in doctrines as the essence and test of Christian life. This is the simplicity and unity by which the Gospel can become effective.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Life and letters of Phillips Brooks, v. II, Alexander V. G. Allen, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1901, p. 333 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:24-28; Matt. 4:19; Rom. 8:1-2; Gal. 3:26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the Anointed One, and my loyalty is to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Joad: the only good explanation

2026-03-21T23:00:00.001-05:00

Sunday, March 22, 2026
Meditation:
    And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
    —Genesis 3:2-6 (ESV)
Quotation:
    To take the fact of evil seriously is to take the fact of morality seriously... I am unable to see how the fact of the moral consciousness, and, in particular, the fact of the opposition between “is” and “ought,” between desire and duty, can be explained in terms of purely natural causation... [They] can be explained only on the assumption that, in addition to the natural, there is also a non-natural order of the universe which is immanent in and on occasion intrudes actively into the natural.
    ... C. E. M. Joad (1891-1953), The Recovery of Belief, London: Faber and Faber, 1952, p. 76-78 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 3:2-6; Josh. 7:20-21; Jer. 14:13-14; Acts 26:27; 2 Cor. 11:13-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I too have eaten the forbidden fruit and know evil within myself. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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