GENEROUS FOR GOD'S GLORY

    2 Corinthians 8:10-15

Dear Father,

It is you, my God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food. Multiply my resources and increase the harvest of righteousness for me and my family. Then give us hearts that are generous and willing to share with those in need around the world.

May I be  a trustworthy channel of your resources, and may you receive the glory and thanksgiving for all the goodness you distribute through me. May I glorify you, my God, by my obedience to the gospel and by my generosity based on its teaching: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Let your superlative and surpassing graciousness be seen in me!

Thank you, Lord, for your inexpressible gift to me and all men, Christ Jesus, the cornucopia of blessings! Thank you, Abba, that my life can be lived in imitation of your sinless son!

In his name I pray. Amen. 

Destroying People to Settle Arguments

     The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman

    there. The woman had been caught doing the sin of adultery.

    These Jews forced the woman to stand before the people. They

    said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught having sex

    with a man that is not her husband. The law of Moses commands

    that we kill with rocks every woman that does this. What do

    you say we should do?" The Jews were using this question to

    trick Jesus. They wanted to catch Jesus saying something

    wrong. Then they could have a charge against him. But Jesus

    kneeled down and started writing on the ground with his

    finger.

                            -- John 8:3-6 (ERV)

 KEY THOUGHT:

It was, of course, a trap set for Jesus. A religious question intended to take the compassion of Jesus and use it to crush him against the Law of Moses. It's funny how we can get so ramped up about our religious discussions that we lose sight of the heart of God.

God is a God of holiness and integrity, righteousness and steadfast love. The two pairs go together. They are inseparable. Those who call upon his name as their God must pursue his character with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The religious leaders here remind us how easily we shift from being righteous students of the Law into being vicious brutes pursuing self-justification. Lost in the argument and the pursuit of Jesus was the personhood of the unnamed woman. She is no more than a token to those who took her to Jesus, the bit of cheese on their religious mousetrap.

However, even in the midst of those who hate him and would trap him, Jesus finds a way to deflect their venom from the woman and restore her dignity. People matter to God. Do they matter to us?

TODAY'S PRAYER:

O LORD, God of Israel and Father of my Lord Jesus, please forgive me. I fear that I have not treated some as you would have had me treat them because they didn't fit into my religious comfortability. Give me a more compassionate heart and a greater skill to better say and do the redemptive thing in the lives of those who need your grace.

In Jesus'

name I pray. Amen.