William Law (1686-1761), A Practical Treatise Upon Christian Perfection [i]

“Could I any way make you apprehend how dying men feel the need of a pious life, how they lament time lost, health and strength squandered away in folly, how they look at eternity, and what they think of the rewards of another life, you would soon find yourself one of those who desire to live in the highest state of piety and perfection, that by this means you may grow old in peace, and die in full hope of eternal glory….

Archibald Alexander (1772-1851)

“But, after all, it is an undeniable fact, that reason, aided as it was by tradition, left men to grope in the dark, and to fall into the most degrading idolatry. Indeed, although reason may teach that there is a God, and that he ought to be worshipped; yet, of what kind his worship should be in order to be acceptable, she never has made known, nor is it within the reach of her ability. All the rites of worship invented by man are altogether unworthy of God; and, truly, it is in the nature of things impossible, that men should devise a form of acceptable worship, for no service of this kind can be pleasing in the sight of God, which he has not himself appointed. Now, if men have lost the knowledge of the original institutions of religion; or, if these have become altogether corrupt, there must be a new revelation, before man will be able to render an acceptable service to his Creator. There is good reason to believe, that many of the heathen rites of worship, are nothing else but corruptions of divine institutions, which were given to man by an early revelation. …Reason, certainly, never taught men that shedding the blood and taking away the life of an animal, could be an acceptable sacrifice to the deity; or, that presenting it on an altar, and consuming it wholly or partially by fire, could be a propitiation for sin; and yet these mysterious ceremonies were almost as universal as the gift of speech. … These, and many other striking resemblances, in the rites of ancient nations, go to prove, incontestably, that they must have had a common origin; and no account of this is half so probable, as that which ascribes sacrificial rites to an original revelation, which brings us to see the credibility of the Mosaic history, in regard to the origin of religious worship.”[i]

Monday: Read Genesis 4:1-15
Adam lived in the presence of God, and it is said he walk by sight and not by faith. How did Abel walk? How did he model his belief? What did Cain do wrong? Since both were sinners, what was the difference in their relationship to God? In these verses we see God has established the acceptable way to worship Him. Contrast Abel’s worship with Cain’s, and give an explanation why one was acceptable and one wasn’t.

Saint Justin Martyr

“[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin* and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied ‘Be it done unto me according to your word.’” From Dialogue with Trypho the Jew

Monday: Read Genesis 3:1-6
How does Eve say “No” to God in this passage?

Tozer, A.W. (1897-1963) The Knowledge of the Holy [i]

The concept of God held by the psalmists and prophets of Israel was that of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in equity…. Of the long awaited Messiah it was prophesied that when He came He should judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgment. Holy men of tender compassion, outraged by the inequity of the world’s rulers, prayed, “O Lord God … how long shall the wicked triumph?” And this is to be understood not as a plea for personal vengeance but as a longing to see moral equity prevail in human society….

Monday:  Psalm 50:16-21; Psalm 52:1-4; Psalm 94:3-7
God’s Word does not hesitate to call some people “wicked.” What characterizes such people? What is their attitude toward God? The poor? Their foes? What characterizes their speech? Their actions toward the powerless?  Tozer mentions “holy men” who are “outraged by the inequity of the world’s rulers.” Do you ever feel this way? What specific situations have caused you such grief?

Diadochus of Photice (5^th century)

“But when we are weighed down by deep despondency, we should for a while sing the psalms out loud, raising our voice with joyful expectation until the thick mist is dissolved by the warmth of song.”[i]

Monday: Read 1 Samuel 16:14-23
David’s music refreshed Saul’s spirit and drove depression away. This episode reminds us that music is a powerful medium. Have you found that certain music can help change your emotional state? Do you often turn to music to help lift your spirits? Praise God today for the powerful gift of music.

[Excerpt from “Still Human” from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers]

“The great marvel of the Incarnation slips into ordinary childhood’s life; the great marvel of the Transfiguration vanished in the devil-possessed valley; the glory of the Resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anti-climax, but a great revelation of God.

The tendency is to look for the marvelous in our experience; we mistake the sense of the heroic for being heroes. It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us. If we do not want medieval haloes, we want something that will make people say—What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a pious devoted woman she is! If you are rightly devoted to the Lord Jesus, You have reached the sublime height where no one ever thinks of noticing you, all that is noticed is that the power of God comes through you all the time.