The Daily Office for May 14, 2012
Scriptures
Psalm 80
Leviticus 25:35-55
James 1:12-18
Matthew 13:1-16
Reading (Psalm 80)
Reflection
The minute people lose sight of how awesome God is, they get off track in their thinking and actions. Question His goodness and you’ll doubt. Doubt His power and you’ll worry. Forget His mercy and you’ll run from Him. It’s our responsibility as believers to view others as loved by God and worthy of respect and mercy. God doesn’t look at the poor and downtrodden, the unattractive or the poorly educated as beneath the rest of His creation and neither should we. We need to show the same compassion that our Heavenly Father has demonstrated to us.
Thank God that He loves you and cares so much about you. Confess any instances in which you have offended God in the past week by not showing compassion to others. Thank Him for His tenderness in the details, the fine needlework, of your life.
Collect for the Day
Almighty God, who in the place of the traitor Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the Twelve: preserve your Church from false apostles and, by the ministry of faithful pastors and teachers, keep us steadfast in your truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.