Serving
“People of Israel, you are my witnesses,” announces the Lord.
“I have chosen you to be my servant. ~ Isaiah 43:10 (NIRV)
We are not preaching about ourselves. Our message is that Jesus Christ is Lord. He also sent us to be your servants. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:5 (CEV)
Lord, everyday I am amazed that you would allow us -- allow me -- to serve you. I'm such a screw-up -- full of myself -- full of my own agenda for life. But you still include me. Please raise me up so that I can be a worthy servant. I'm depending on you for even that. But that does uniquely qualify me to be a witness of your grace. That's kind of cool -- that my weaknesses get corralled to further demonstrate that Jesus is Lord. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase -- a freestyle biblical adaptation -- somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
