Servants
Lent
If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today... As for me and my family, we’ll worship God. ~ Joshua 24:15 (MSG)
Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. ~ 1 Corinthians 4:1 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
My basic identity is that of servant of Christ.
PRAYER:
Lord, it is so easy when I am dealing with such heady matters as your mysteries, that I begin to think of myself as pretty important. Of course, I wouldn't say that publically. I don't want people to think that I am arrogant. But I still feel important and easily lose sight of reality -- that my calling is to be your servant.
I am not your master. I am not even the authoritative curator whom everyone has to look to for pronouncements that provide endorsements of what you say. Help me to think and live like a servant of Christ. I'm going to stay in his shadow as much as possible. 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)
NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (© 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.) NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)