Caring
I, the Lord God, say you shepherds of Israel are doomed! You take care of yourselves while ignoring my sheep. ~ Ezekiel 34:2b (CEV)
Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. ~ Philippians 2:4 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHT:
Pour your life into caring for others.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for guiding my life. I wish that I could be better at caring for others in the way you have cared for me. But I'm influenced by the cultural priority of self-first. I repent of that ungodly nonsense and ask that you would shape me to be a good "shepherd" of all the people within my realm of influence. Using the loving heart that you give me I'm going to focus more on caring for others. 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)
