Ordinary Time: Friday, July 21, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Joshua 4:19-5:1, 10-15

We see in each passage today that is the Lord that is leading and deserves the praise. So often in life we are the ones that feel as though we deserve the praise. My daddy used to say we all want to see our name in lights.

But, we must remember that all the good gifts we have in life come from God. And the successes we have in life come through the grace of God. Even the hard work we do in life comes only through the fact that the Lord has given us the health and motivation to work to our fullest. He deserves all the praise and glory. We are merely His workmanship, shinning forth so He can receive worship and praise.

New Testament Lesson

Romans 12:9-21

We see Paul's simple instruction today. Do good. In all that you do today, do good. He ends this passage by saying do not be over come by evil but overcome evil with good. By doing simple acts of goodness, we can overcome evil. Evil in the end, will lose. Each act of goodness, each act of mercy, each act of kindness; through these things, we over come evil.

My man John Wesley put it like this:

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can

Gospel Lesson

Matthew 26:17-25

We see that even one so close as a disciple betrayed Jesus. While our first thought when we think about Judas is to think what a bad guy he is, maybe our second through should be, "how do I betray my Lord, just as he did?"

Yes, it is easy to heap scorn upon Judas. But, it is much harder to look within our own lives to see the ways that betray our Lord with our words, our actions, out thoughts our unfaithfulness. . .

How do we betray the one that loves us so? In what ways should we repent and be more of who God has called us to be?