April 27, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 49, 96, 138
Daniel 6:1-15
2 John 1-13
Luke 5:12-26

II. Selections
Psalm 49:18-19
Though in their lifetime [ those who become rich] count themselves happy
-for you are praised when you do well for yourself-
they will go to the company of their ancestors,
who will never again see the light.

Daniel 6:5
The [ presidents and satraps] said, "We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God."

2 John 5
But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.

Luke 5:26
Amazement seized all of [ those who had seen the healing of the paralytic], and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen strange things today."

III. Meditation: Responses differ

The response to those who do well for themselves may be praise,
which provides a certain satisfaction to the object of the praise;
but response to Daniel's successful governance was jealously,
and his competitors laid a trap to convict him for his piety.

Witnesses responded to Jesus' healing of the paralytic
with amazement and awe, and they glorified you.
Many the ways we respond to what others do,
but the right response is to love one another.