Repent
The First Sunday in Lent
When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away... Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me... Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt. ~ Psalm 32:3a,4a,5a (NLT)
There is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents. ~ Luke 15:10 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
Things get better when we stop doing things God dislikes, turn to him, and start thinking and doing what pleases him.
PRAYER:
Gracious God, you welcome us when we turn to you. I confess, though, that I try to hold out as long as possible. My thinking is twisted and I need your help in straightening up the tangled mess I have created for myself. Help me to repent so that I can enjoy the full and rich life to which I have been called. In Jesus' name, 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)
