Motives and Actions--August 07, 2010

I. Readings
Psalms 63, 149, 125, 90
Judges 9:22-25, 50-57
Acts 4:32-5:11
John 2:13-25

II. Selections
Psalm 63:3
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
      my lips will praise you.

Judges 9:54
Immediately [Abimelech] called to the young man who carried his armor and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so people will not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ”
So the young man thrust him through, and he died.

Acts 4:34
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

John 2:15
Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables.

III. Meditation

Actions spring from
an array of motives:

Out of shame and embarrassment,
Abimelech ordered his own death.

In anger Jesus drove animals and
moneychangers from the temple.

Motivated by love, members of the
early church sold all their possessions
and shared the proceeds with the poor.

As we praise you, may our motive be
that your steadfast love is better than life.