The Christian Quotation of the Day

White: by small steps

2026-09-10T23:00:48.576-05:00

Friday, September 11, 2026
Meditation:
    And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
    When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
    —2 Kings 22:8-13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Our faith and our friendships are not shattered by one big act, but by many small neglects.
    ... J. Gustav White (1881-1979) (see the book)
    See also 2 Kings 22:8-13; Luke 11:42; Rom. 12:6-8,12; 2 Cor. 9:6; 1 John 4:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, correct my negligence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Niebuhr: the sociology of denominations

2026-09-09T23:01:49.504-05:00

Thursday, September 10, 2026
Meditation:
    I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
    —1 Timothy 5:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The denominations, churches, sects, are sociological groups whose principle of differentiation is to be sought in their conformity to the order of social classes and castes. It would not be true to affirm that the denominations are not religious groups with religious purposes; but it is true that they represent the accommodation of religion to the caste system. They are emblems, therefore, of the victory of the world over the church, of the secularization of Christianity, of the church’s sanction of that divisiveness which the church’s gospel condemns.
    ... H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), The Social Sources of Denominationalism, Hamden, Conn.: Holt, 1929, reprint, Meridian Books, 1960, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 5:21; Matt. 23:8; John 17:20-21; 1 Cor. 1:11-13; Eph. 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, only You can unite Your people. We pray for the healing of divisions. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: why Christianity seems to fail

2026-09-08T23:00:26.370-05:00

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Meditation:
I will not set before my eyes
    anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
    it shall not cling to me.
    —Psalm 101:3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Is it unfair to suggest that, in some of us at least, [Christianity] hasn’t fully worked so far, simply because, at the pinch, at the decisive moment, we don’t want it to work or ourselves to be lifted up above the failings and disloyalties we find so alluring, but rather to be enabled to continue them without the ugly consequences of so doing, to have the inexorable laws of life bent aside in our favour, so that we can squeeze through and escape, without reaping what we have sown; because, as we misunderstand it, the whole point of the good news our Lord brings is the, to us, gladsome announcement that God is happily much more morally indifferent than our consciences had thought, and is not going to make a fuss about our sins and such-like trivial peccadilloes, but will surely let us off; because, in fact, we have not grasped that the core and essence of the Gospel... is its tremendous and glorious revelation of how deadly is God’s hatred of sin, so that He cannot stand having it in the same universe as Himself, and will go any length, and will pay any price, and will make any sacrifice, to master and abolish it—is set upon so doing in our hearts, thank God, as elsewhere.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), Experience Worketh Hope, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1945, p. 69 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 101:3; Pr. 8:13; Amos 5:15; Rom. 12:9; Heb. 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I know no sin pleases You. In Your grace, grant me a repentant heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: love without works

2026-09-07T23:00:05.848-05:00

Tuesday, September 8, 2026
    Commemoration of Søren Kierkegaard, Teacher and Philosopher, 1855
Meditation:
    Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
    —Luke 10:30-37 (ESV)
Quotation:
    To the Christian, love is the works of love. To say that love is a feeling or anything of the kind is really an un-Christian conception of love. That is the aesthetic definition and therefore fits the erotic and everything of that nature. But to the Christian, love is the works of love. Christ’s love was not an inner feeling, a full heart and what-not: it was the work of love which was his life.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 317 (see the book)
    See also Luke 10:30-37; Matt. 20:26-28; John 3:16; 10:14-15; 15:13; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are teaching me love through humble service. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: a desirable fear

2026-09-06T23:00:09.341-05:00

Monday, September 7, 2026
    Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957
Meditation:
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
    and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
    —Proverbs 16:6 (ESV)
Quotation:
    That fear which keeps from sin and excites the soul to cleave more firmly to God, be the object of it what it will, is no servile fear, but a holy fear and due reverence unto God and His word.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), IV.5 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 461 (see the book)
    See also Prov. 16:6; Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4-5; 2 Cor. 5:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen my belief in You, so that I may fear You only. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dale: why Christ came

2026-09-05T23:00:05.917-05:00

Sunday, September 6, 2026
    Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851
    Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965
Meditation:
    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
    —John 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ came, not so much to preach the Gospel, as that there might be a Gospel to preach.
    ... Robert W. Dale (1829-1895), parapharsed from The Atonement, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1875, p. 46 (see the book)
    See also John 3:17; 1:17; 14:6; Rom. 3:21-22; 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 9:22; Rev. 5:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your presence within is the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tauler: the price of true peace

2026-09-04T23:00:54.912-05:00

Saturday, September 5, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
    —Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If we ever are to attain to true Divine Peace, and be completely united to God, all that is not absolutely necessary, either bodily or spiritually, must be cast off; everything that could interpose itself to an unlawful extent between us and Him, and lead us astray: for He alone will be Lord in our hearts, and none other; for Divine Love can admit of no rival.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way, Sermon XV (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:24; Ps. 119:113; 1 Sam. 7:3; Luke 16:13; Rom. 6:17-18; Gal. 1:10; Jas. 1:6-8; 4:4; 1 John 2:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    I confess, Lord, that I am double-minded. Raise in me that complete allegiance that serves the Kingdom alone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: Scripture and Spirit

2026-09-03T23:00:07.554-05:00

Friday, September 4, 2026
    Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650
Meditation:
    But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
    —1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find any acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken by the mouth of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts, to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what has been divinely commanded.
    ... 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.vii.4, p. 79 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:9-11; John 5:39-40; 8:13-19; 15:26; Rom. 8:16; Heb. 10:15-17; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit that I may be persuaded of the truth of Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gregory: Christ, our forerunner

2026-09-02T23:00:05.969-05:00

Thursday, September 3, 2026
    Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604
Meditation:
    For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
    —1 Peter 2:21 (ESV)
Quotation:
    All that which our blessed Saviour wrought in his mortal body, he did it for our example and instruction, to the end that, following his steps, according to our poor ability, we might without offense pass over this present life.
    ... St. Gregory the Great (540?-604), The Dialogues of Saint Gregory, P. L. Warner, 1911; Arx Publishing, LLC, 2010, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 2:21; John 13:15; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 2:6; 3:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to follow You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Berdyaev: reality or appearance?

2026-09-01T23:00:08.647-05:00

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

2026-08-31T23:00:44.284-05:00

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"

2026-08-30T23:00:51.770-05:00

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

2026-08-29T23:00:25.144-05:00

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

2026-08-28T23:00:53.661-05:00

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

2026-08-27T23:00:35.547-05:00

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

2026-08-26T23:00:27.988-05:00

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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Eckhart: doing vs. being

2026-08-25T23:01:12.692-05:00

Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Meditation:
    For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
    —Hebrews 9:13-14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    People should think less about what they ought to do and more about what they ought to be. If only their being were good, their works would shine forth brightly. Do not imagine that you can ground your salvation upon actions; it must rest on what you are. The ground upon which good character rests is the very same ground from which man’s work derives its value, namely, a mind wholly turned to God. Verily, if you were so minded, you might tread on a stone and it would be a more pious work than if you, simply for your own profit, were to receive the Body of the Lord and were wanting in spiritual detachment.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), quoted in The Perennial Philosophy [1945], Aldous Huxley, New York: HarperCollins, 2004, p. 178 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 9:13-14; Ps. 51:7,10; 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; 1 John 1:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purge me from pursuit of dead works. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: the debt of praise

2026-08-24T23:00:52.906-05:00

Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Meditation:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
    where their voice is not heard.
    —Psalm 19:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Oh my debt of praise, how weighty it is, and how far run up! Oh, that others would lend me to pay, and teach me to praise.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Jan. 1, 1637, p. 136 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 19:1-3; 25:4; 51:15; Rev. 5:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me words and voice to speak Your praises. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: the price of mercy

2026-08-23T23:00:56.870-05:00

Monday, August 24, 2026
    Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
    —Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV)
Quotation:
    To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian charity; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it means to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), “On Forgiveness” [1949], in Fern-seed and Elephants, Walter Hooper, Fontana, 1975, p. 43 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:12,14-15; 18:21-35; Hos. 6:6; Mark 5:25,26; Luke 6:37; 11:4; 17:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, expose my hard-heartedness, that I may learn anew the privilege of forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: the irrefutable evidence

2026-08-22T23:00:12.259-05:00

Sunday, August 23, 2026
    Commemoration of Rose of Lima, Contemplative, 1617
Meditation:
    For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
    —2 Peter 1:16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    I have heard professing Christians of our own day speak as though the historicity of the Gospels does not matter—all that matters is the contemporary Spirit of Christ. I contend that the historicity does matter, and I do not see why we, who live nearly two thousand years later, should call into question an Event for which there were many eye-witnesses still living at the time when most of the New Testament was written. It was no “cunningly devised fable” but an historic irruption of God into human history which gave birth to a young church so sturdy that the pagan world could not stifle or destroy it.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Ring of Truth, London: Hodder & Stoughton; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967, p. 40-41 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:2,14,17; Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 4:1,7; 1 Pet. 1:21; 2 Pet. 3:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help my unbelief! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the minimum Christian life

2026-08-21T23:00:12.631-05:00

Saturday, August 22, 2026
Meditation:
    Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
    —1 Peter 4:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If our common life is not a common course of humility, self-denial, renunciation of the world, poverty of spirit, and heavenly affection, we don’t live the lives of Christians.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 10-11 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:1-2; Rom. 15:5-6; 1 Cor. 11:1; 14:1; Gal. 5:22-23; 1 John 2:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my life does not live up to Your word. Forgive me, I pray, and grant me new grace and strength to amend my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fox: proper offerings

2026-08-20T23:00:06.398-05:00

Friday, August 21, 2026
Meditation:
    Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
    —Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Take care that all your offerings be free, and of your own, that has cost you something; so that ye may not offer of that which is another man’s, or that which ye are entrusted withal, and not your own.
    ... George Fox (1624-1691), Journal, v. II, Philadelphia: B. & T. Kite, 1808, p. 323 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:1-4; 8:4; 9:30; Mark 1:44; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 6:18; Heb. 13:16; 1 John 3:17-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, grant me a generous spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bernard of Clairvaux: love

2026-08-19T23:00:26.937-05:00

Thursday, August 20, 2026
    Feast of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Teacher, 1153
    Commemoration of William & Catherine Booth, Founders of the Salvation Army, 1912 & 1890
Meditation:
    Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
    —1 John 5:1-3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Honor and glory are indeed due to God and to Him alone, but He will accept neither of them if they be not preserved in the honey of love. Love is sufficient of itself; it pleases by itself and on its own account. It is itself merit and is itself its own reward. Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit. It is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love is a great thing provided it recurs to its beginning, returns to its origin, and draws always from that fountain which is perpetually in flood. Of all the feelings and affections of the soul, love is the only one by which the creature, though not on equal terms, is able to respond to the Creator and to repay what it has received from Him... For when God loves us He desires nothing but to be loved. He loves for no other reason, indeed, than that He may be loved, knowing that by their love itself those who love Him are blessed.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), Cantica Canticorum (Sermons of the Song of Songs), in Bernard of Clairvaux: selected works, Gillian Rosemary Evans, tr., Paulist Press, 1987, 83:4, p. 272-273 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 5:1-3; Mark 12:32-34; Rom. 5:5; 8:28; Rev. 4:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, quicken love within me, that I may love You above everything. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Peabody: the decisive factor

2026-08-18T23:00:51.482-05:00

Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Meditation:
    Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
    —Matthew 7:21 (ESV)
Quotation:
    However important it may be to have a creed that is sound or an emotion that is warm, the Christian life, according to the Gospels, is primarily determined by the direction of the will, the fixing of the desire, the habit of obedience, the faculty of decision. Are you determined in your purpose? Have you the will to do the will? Then, even with half a creed and less than half a pious ecstasy, you are at least in the line of the purpose of Jesus Christ, and as you will to do the will, may come some day to know the teaching.
    ... F. G. Peabody (1847-1936), Mornings in the College Chapel, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, p. 201-202 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:21; Isa. 30:20-21; Jer. 31:33-34; Matt. 11:26-27; Mark 4:23; John 10:27; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 11:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, press me towards obedience, that I may learn Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Selden: giving to God

2026-08-17T23:00:49.653-05:00

Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Meditation:
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
    let the many coastlands be glad!
Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him
    and burns up his adversaries all around.
His lightnings light up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all the peoples see his glory.
    —Psalm 97:1-6 (ESV)
Quotation:
    All things are God’s already; we can give him no right, by consecrating any that he had not before, only we set it apart to his service: just as a gardener brings his master a basket of apricots, and presents them; his lord thanks him, and perhaps gives him something for his pains, and yet the apricots were as much his lord’s before as now.
    ... John Selden (1584-1654), Table-Talk [1689], Whitefriars: Davidson, 1821, p. 45 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 97:1-6; 93:1; 96:10-11; 99:1; Obad. 1:21; Matt. 6:10; Luke 17:7-10; Rev. 11:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You own everything. All my possessions are at Your disposal for the Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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