Monday, December 29, 2014

Mercy

The Sixth Day of Christmas

The Israelites responded to the Lord, “We’ve sinned. Do to us whatever you see as right, but please save us this time.” ~ Judges 10:15 (CEB)

When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. ~ Titus 3:4-5 (NLT)

God our Savior, our natural inclination is to justify our actions. We always have some kind of excuse for what we've done. Or we want to prove that we're not so bad because of all the good things we've done. But either approach moves the conversation in the wrong direction. We want to make it all about us. However, our salvation is really all about you and your mercy. And we only have access to your mercy when we acknowledge our need for it. So, once again I turn to you and your mercy. Help me to make this day all about you. That's my goal for the day -- to live out the mercy expressed through the undeserved saving presence of Christ Jesus. Amen.

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DAILYTEXTS.ORG

*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS

The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2015 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)

EEB = EasyEnglish Bible (©2015, MissionAssist)

ERV = Easy-To-Read Version (©2006, World Bible Translation Center)

GNT = Good News Translation (©1992, American Bible Society)

MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)

NCB = New Catholic Bible (©2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp.)

NCV = New Century Version (©2005, Thomas Nelson Inc)

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.)

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