Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily
words of wisdom and faith “Meditating on Scriptures” for Saturday, 8 March 2014
Today’s Reflection:
WHENEVER IN ANY AGE there has been an
outpouring of spiritual passion, it has been directly traceable to an interest
in the scriptures and what God was saying to the world through them. We can
scarcely expect a similar outpouring in our own time, or in our individual
lives, apart from a similar interest.
The simplest way to meditate on the
scriptures, of course, is to sit down in your quiet place with the Bible before
you and begin to read in a book you have chosen—say, the Gospel of Mark or the
Epistle to the Romans or the Book of Psalms.
Read thoughtfully, letting the ideas and
images tumble freely and fully in your mind.
Read as though listening for the One
behind all of it.
In the medieval monasteries, readings
were almost always done aloud. You might wish to read aloud, too, hearing the
passages with the ears as well as the heart.
If you have any difficulty in
understanding what you are reading, or desire to be more enlightened about
details of biblical times, you may wish to acquire a simple commentary to read
along with the passages. … But don’t become overly concerned about the parts
you do not understand. …
It is important to read through a whole
book, even though it takes several sittings, instead of skipping around and
randomly addressing passages throughout the Bible. The writers had individual
personalities, and the various books have specific settings and themes; these
do not always emerge from short, random encounters.
You may wish to keep a notebook handy for
jotting down insights and biblical phrases you do not want to forget. This way
you can pray over them not only once, but many times.
It is a good practice each day to
memorize one verse or part of a verse from the passage you have read and to use
that as a prayer phrase in the manner suggested earlier. In that way you carry
over your time of prayer and meditation into the activities of the rest of the
day, and you insert the words deeply into your heart.
When you have completed the reading of
the day’s passage, stopping at a natural breaking point, rest silently in the
thought of what you have read, so that you feel the presence of God breaking
through into your life.
--John Killinger, Beginning Prayer
From pages 63-64 of Beginning Prayer by
John Killinger. Copyright © 2012 by John Killinger. All rights reserved. Used
by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more
about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Try reading the scripture aloud this
week. Does it change your devotional experience?
Today’s Scripture:
For just as by the one man’s disobedience
the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made
righteous.--Romans 5:19, NRSV
This Week: pray for those who are
confused and afraid.
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Did You Know?
Pray your way through Lent in The Upper
Room’s online Lenten retreat featuring Pamela Hawkins’s The Awkward Season. Log
in anytime from anywhere to access audio, video, readings, and group discussion
that will enliven and deepen your Lenten prayer practice. Ash Wednesday through
Easter Sunday.
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Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember: John Wesley (March 03).
ohn Wesley (1703-91), cofounder (with
brother Charles Wesley) of the Methodist movement, Anglican priest, Oxford
fellow, theologian, author, publisher, evangelist, and itinerant preacher.
Wesley was the fifteenth child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. At the age of
five, John nearly perished in the Epworth rectory fire. From that moment,
Susanna regarded John as a "brand plucked from the burning" and was
convinced that God had some special purpose for his life. Wesley studied Greek,
natural and moral philosophy, and logic at Oxford University. While at Oxford
as a teaching fellow, he took over the leadership of the Oxford Holy Club, a
group started by his brother Charles and a few close friends. The purpose of
the group was to provide a mutual accountability structure for the imitation of
Christ. Under John's leadership, they established a semimonastic lifestyle of
extreme frugality (living on £28 a year), praying the Daily Office (Liturgy of
the Hours), a form of daily self-examination (examen), twice weekly Holy
Communion, serious Bible study, penance and mortification (especially fasting),
and works of mercy among the poor. The methodical rigor of their pious practice
caused much ridicule among the intellectuals of the university, who nicknamed
them Methodists.
From the time of the Holy Club, Wesley
kept a journal that he regularly edited for publication. The first volume
recounts a disastrous trip as a missionary to Georgia, after which Wesley felt
he was a failure as a priest, a Christian, and a human being. His search for a
felt sense of assurance in his relationship with Christ culminated on May 24,
1738, when, at a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, he felt his
"heart strangely warmed." By 1739 Anglican pulpits were repeatedly
closed to Wesley because of his strong preaching on salvation by faith.
Reluctantly he began field preaching. ... From 1738 to 1765, Wesley built a
strongly organized Methodist society as a renewal movement within the Church of
England. Through his evangelistic preaching tours tens of thousands were
converted to Christ. ... He said that his aim was "not to form any new
sect; but to reform the nation, particularly the Church; and to spread
scriptural holiness over the land." However, due to his pastoral concerns
for the Methodists in America following the Revolutionary War, Wesley did set
up the American Methodist Episcopal Church (1784) by ordaining and sending
Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke to be its first bishops.
Wesley's Journal letters, sermons, and
treatises are available in many editions, including some available on-line. A
Plain Account of Christian Perfection summarizes Wesley's teaching on that
subject.
If John Wesley had taken the Spiritual
Types Test he probably would have been a Sage. Wesley is remembered on March
3.[Excerpted with permission from the entry on John Wesley by Cynthia I.
Zirlott, The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation edited by
Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights
reserved.]
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 2: 15 Yahweh God took the man,
and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. 16 Yahweh God
commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17
but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the
day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than
any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has
God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may
eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which
is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You
shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You
won’t surely die, 5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 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 some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave
some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and
they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made
coverings for themselves.
Psalm 32: By David. A contemplative
psalm.
1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is
forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh
doesn’t impute iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted
away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy
on me.
My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.
Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin to you.
I didn’t hide my iniquity.
I said, I will confess my transgressions
to Yahweh,
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Selah.
6 For this, let everyone who is godly
pray to you in a time when you may be found.
Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.
7 You are my hiding place.
You will preserve me from trouble.
You will surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in
the way which you shall go.
I will counsel you with my eye on you.
9 Don’t be like the horse, or like the
mule, which have no understanding,
who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to
you.
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you
righteous!
Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
Romans 5: 12 Therefore as sin entered
into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to
all men, because all sinned. 13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but
sin is not charged when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from
Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience,
who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. 15 But the free gift isn’t like
the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did
the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,
abound to the many. 16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the
judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses
to justification. 17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through
the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. 18 So then
as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness,
all men were justified to life. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience
many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be
made righteous.
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 When he had fasted
forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The tempter came and
said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become
bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of God.’”[a]
5 Then the devil took him into the holy
city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are
the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels
in charge of you.’ and,
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”[b]
7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is
written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”[c]
8 Again, the devil took him to an
exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and
their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you
will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind
me,[d] Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you
shall serve him only.’” [e]
11 Then the devil left him, and behold,
angels came and served him.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3
b. Matthew 4:6 Psalm 91:11-12
c. Matthew 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16
d. Matthew 4:10 TR and NU read “Go away”
instead of “Get behind me”
e. Matthew 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13
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John Wesley’s Notes/Commentary:
First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Verse 16, 17. Thou shall die - That is,
thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or prospect;
and thou shalt become liable to death, and all the miseries that preface and
attend it. This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin. In the day
thou eatest, thou shalt die - Not only thou shalt become mortal, but spiritual
death and the forerunners of temporal death shall immediately seize thee. See
note at "ver. 17"
II The general contents of this chapter
we have Rom. v, 12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. More particularly,
we have here,
I. The innocent tempted, ver. 1-5.
II. The tempted transgressing, ver. 6, 7,
8.
III. The transgressors arraigned, ver. 9,
10.
IV. Upon their arraignment convicted,
ver. 11-13.
V. Upon their conviction sentenced, ver.
14-19.
VI. After sentence, reprieved, ver. 20,
21.
VII. Notwithstanding their reprieve,
execution in part done, ver. 22-24, and were it not for the gracious
intimations of redemption, they and all their race had been left to despair.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We have here an account of
the temptation wherewith Satan assaulted our first parents, and which proved
fatal to them. And here observe, (1.) The tempter, the devil in the shape of a
serpent. Multitudes of them fell; but this that attacked our first parents, was
surely the prince of the devils. Whether it was only the appearance of a
serpent, or a real serpent, acted and possessed by the devil, is not certain.
The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, because it is a subtle creature.
It is not improbable, that reason and speech were then the known properties of
the serpent. And therefore Eve was not surprised at his reasoning and speaking,
which otherwise she must have been. (2.) That which the devil aimed at, was to
persuade Eve to eat forbidden fruit; and to do this, he took the same method
that he doth still.
1. He questions whether it were a sin or
no, ver. 1,
2. He denies that there was any danger in
it, ver. 4.
3. He suggests much advantage by it, ver.
5. And these are his common topics. As to the advantage, he suits the
temptation to the pure state they were now in, proposing to them not any carnal
pleasure, but intellectual delights.
Verse 1. Your eyes shall be opened - You
shall have much more of the power and pleasure of contemplation than now you
have; you shall fetch a larger compass in your intellectual views, and see
farther into things than now you do.
Verse 2. You shall be as gods - As
Elohim, mighty gods, not only omniscient but omnipotent too:
Verse 3. You shall know good and evil -
That is, everything that is desirable to be known. To support this part of the
temptation, he abuseth the name given to this tree. 'Twas intended to teach the
practical knowledge of good and evil, that is, of duty and disobedience, and it
would prove the experimental knowledge of good and evil, that is, of happiness
and misery. But he perverts the sense of it, and wrests it to their
destruction, as if this tree would give them a speculative notional knowledge
of the natures, kinds, and originals of good and evil. And,
Verse 4. All this presently, In the day
you eat thereof - You will find a sudden and immediate change for the better.
See note at "ver. 1"
Verse 6, 7, 8. Here we see what Eve's
parley with the tempter ended in: Satan at length gains his point. God tried
the obedience of our first parents by forbidding them the tree of knowledge,
and Satan doth as it were join issue with God, and in that very thing undertakes
to seduce them into a transgression; and here we find how he prevailed, God
permitting it for wise and holy ends. (1.) We have here the inducements that
moved them to transgress. The woman being deceived, was ring-leader in the
transgression, 1 Tim. ii, 14
1. She saw that the tree was - It was
said of all the rest of the fruit trees wherewith the garden of Eden was
planted, that they were pleasant to the sight, and good for food.
2. She imagined a greater benefit by this
tree than by any of the rest, that it was a tree not only not to be dreaded,
but to be desired to make one wise, and therein excelling all the rest of the
trees. This she saw, that is, she perceived and understood it by what the devil
had said to her. She gave also to her husband with her - 'Tis likely he was not
with her when she was tempted; surely if he had, he would have interposed to
prevent the sin; but he came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed with
by her to eat likewise. She gave it to him; persuading him with the same arguements
that the serpent had used with her; adding this to the rest, that she herself
had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was extremely
pleasant and grateful. And he did eat - This implied the unbelief of God's
word, and confidence in the devil's; discontent with his present state, and an
ambition of the honour which comes not from God. He would be both his own
carver, and his own master, would have what he pleased, and do what he pleased;
his sin was in one word disobedience, Rom. v, 19, disobedience to a plain, easy
and express command, which he knew to be a command of trial. He sins against
light and love, the clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned
against. But the greatest aggravation of his sin was, that he involved all his
posterity in sin and ruin by it. He could not but know that he stood as a
public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal to all his seed; and if
so, it was certainly both the greatest treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever
was. Shame and fear seized the criminals, these came into the world along with
sin, and still attend it. The Eyes of them both were opened - The eyes of their
consciences; their hearts smote them for what they had done Now, when it was
too late, they saw the happiness they were fallen from, and the misery they
were fallen into. They saw God provoked, his favour forfeited, his image lost;
they felt a disorder in their own spirits, which they had never before been
conscious of; they saw a law in their members warring against the law of their
minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath; they saw that they were
naked, that is, that they were stripped, deprived of all the honours and joys
of their paradise state, and exposed to all the miseries that might justly be
expected from an angry God; laid open to the contempt and reproach of heaven
and earth, and their own consciences. And they sewed or platted fig leaves
together, and, to cover, at least, part of their shame one from another, made
themselves aprons. See here what is commonly the folly of those that have
sinned: they are more solicitous to save their credit before men, than to
obtain their pardon from God. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day - Tis supposed he came in a human shape;
in no other similitude than that wherein they had seen him when he put them
into paradise; for he came to convince and humble them, not to amaze and
terrify them. He came not immediately from heaven in their view as afterwards
on mount Sinai, but he came in the garden, as one that was still willing to be
familiar with them. He came walking, not riding upon the wings of the wind, but
walking deliberately, as one slow to anger. He came in the cool of the day, not
in the night, when all fears are doubly fearful; nor did he come suddenly upon
them, but they heard his voice at some distance, giving them notice of his
coming; and probably it was a still small voice, like that in which he came to
inquire after Elijah. And they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
- A sad change! Before they had sinned, if they heard the voice of the Lord God
coming towards them, they would have run to meet him, but now God was become a
terror to them, and then no marvel they were become a terror to themselves. See
note at "ver. 6"
Psalm 32
PS 32 The happiness of them whose sins
are forgiven, ver. 1, 2. The necessity of confessing our sins, and of prayer,
ver. 3-6. God's promise to them that trust in him, ver. 7-10. An exhortation to
rejoice in God, ver. 11. A psalm of David, Maschil. Title of the psalm. Maschil
- Or, an instructor. This psalm is fitly so called, because it was composed for
the information of the church, in that most important doctrine, the way to true
blessedness.
Verse 2. Imputeth - Whom God doth not
charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in
Christ. No guile - Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God
with all his heart.
Verse 3. Silence - From a full and open
confession of my sins. Old - My spirit failed, and the strength of my body
decayed. Roaring - Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense
of God's wrath.
Verse 4. Hand - Thy afflicting hand. My
moisture - Was dried up.
Verse 5. The iniquity - The guilt of my
sin.
Verse 6. For this - Upon the
encouragement of my example. Found - In an acceptable and seasonable time,
while God continues to offer grace and mercy. Waters - In the time of great
calamities. Not come - So as to overwhelm him.
Verse 8. I will - This and the next verse
seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to
his prayers. Mine eye - So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon
him.
Verse 9. Will not - Unless they be forced
to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.
Verse 10. Sorrows - This is an argument
to enforce the foregoing admonition.
Romans 5:12-19
Verse 12. Therefore - This refers to all
the preceding discourse; from which the apostle infers what follows. He does
not therefore properly make a digression, but returns to speak again of sin and
of righteousness. As by one man - Adam; who is mentioned, and not Eve, as being
the representative of mankind. Sin entered into the world - Actual sin, and its
consequence, a sinful nature. And death - With all its attendants. It entered
into the world when it entered into being; for till then it did not exist. By
sin - Therefore it could not enter before sin. Even so - Namely, by one man. In
that - So the word is used also, 2 Cor. v, 4. All sinned - In Adam. These words
assign the reason why death came upon all men; infants themselves not excepted,
in that all sinned.
Verse 13. For until the law sin was in
the world - All, I say, had sinned, for sin was in the world long before the
written law; but, I grant, sin is not so much imputed, nor so severely punished
by God, where there is no express law to convince men of it. Yet that all had
sinned, even then, appears in that all died.
Verse 14. Death reigned - And how vast is
his kingdom! Scarce can we find any king who has as many subjects, as are the
kings whom he hath conquered. Even over them that had not sinned after the
likeness of Adam's transgression - Even over infants who had never sinned, as
Adam did, in their own persons; and over others who had not, like him, sinned
against an express law. Who is the figure of him that was to come - Each of
them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the
fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offense; the other, of
righteousness and life by his free gift. Thus far the apostle shows the
agreement between the first and second Adam: afterward he shows the differences
between them. The agreement may be summed up thus: As by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; so by one man righteousness entered into the
world, and life by righteousness. As death passed upon all men, in that all had
sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in
that all are justified. And as death through the sin of the first Adam reigned
even over them who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression;
so through the righteousness of Christ, even those who have not obeyed, after
the likeness of his obedience, shall reign in life. We may add, As the sin of
Adam, without the sins which we afterwards committed, brought us death; so the
righteousness of Christ, without the good works which we afterwards perform,
brings us life: although still every good, as well as evil, work, will receive
its due reward.
Verse 15. Yet not - St. Paul now
describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more directly
and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift
differ,
1. In amplitude, ver. 15.
2. He from whom sin came, and He from
whom the free gift came, termed also "the gift of righteousness,"
differ in power, ver. 16.
3. The reason of both is subjoined, ver.
17.
4. This premised, the offense and the
free gift are compared, with regard to their effect, ver. 18, and with regard
to their cause, ver. 19.
16. The sentence was by one offense to
Adam's condemnation - Occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him,
which, by consequence, overwhelmed his posterity. But the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification - Unto the purchasing it for all men,
notwithstanding many offenses.
Verse 17. There is a difference between
grace and the gift. Grace is opposed to the offense; the gift, to death, being
the gift of life.
Verse 18. Justification of life - Is that
sentence of God, by which a sinner under sentence of death is adjudged to life.
Verse 19. As by the disobedience of one
man many (that is, all men) were constituted sinners - Being then in the loins
of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all. So by
the obedience of one - By his obedience unto death; by his dying for us. Many -
All that believe. Shall be constituted righteous - Justified, pardoned.
Matthew 4:1-11
Verse 1. Then - After this glorious
evidence of his Father's love, he was completely armed for the combat. Thus
after the clearest light and the strongest consolation, let us expect the
sharpest temptations. By the Spirit - Probably through a strong inward impulse.
Mark i, 12; Luke iv, 1.
Verse 2. Having fasted - Whereby
doubtless he received more abundant spiritual strength from God. Forty days and
forty nights - As did Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great
restorer of it. He was afterward hungry - And so prepared for the first
temptation.
Verse 3. Coming to him - In a visible
form; probably in a human shape, as one that desired to inquire farther into
the evidences of his being the Messiah.
Verse 4. It is written - Thus Christ
answered, and thus we may answer all the suggestions of the devil. By every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God - That is, by whatever God
commands to sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle to
procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will. Deut. viii, 3.
Verse 5. The holy city - So Jerusalem was
commonly called, being the place God had peculiarly chosen for himself. On the
battlement of the temple - Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such
a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of it without
making himself giddy.
Verse 6. In their hands - That is, with
great care. Psalm xci, 11, 12.
Verse 7. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God - By requiring farther evidence of what he hath already made
sufficiently plain. Deut. vi, 16.
Verse 8. Showeth him all the kingdoms of
the world - In a kind of visionary representation.
Verse 9. If thou wilt fall down and
worship me - Here Satan clearly shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering
this suggestion, calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.
Verse 10. Get thee hence, Satan - Not,
get thee behind me, that is, into thy proper place; as he said on a quite
different occasion to Peter, speaking what was not expedient. Deut. vi, 13.
Verse 11. Angels came and waited upon him
- Both to supply him with food, and to congratulate his victory.
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