Thursday, February 5, 2015

Pure heart

I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. ~ 1 Chronicles 29:17 (NLT)

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. ~ Matthew 5:8 (NLT)

God, life is confusing. There are so many different voices trying to define success for us -- make the family happy, find an acceptable mate, finish your education, make money, show respect, get people to respect you, accumulate significant experiences, make yourself happy through sexual pleasure... The list goes on. And some of these things may be important to you, God. But ultimately there seems to be only one thing about me that will make you really happy -- if when you look inside me, you see a reflection of your own character. You, God, have a pure heart and you always keep your word -- even when no one is paying attention to you. Please help me to ignore all the other definitions of success and to become a walking breathing mirror of you. I am too dull and can't reflect you unless you polish me. Go to it. I'm eager to show you off. Amen.

Challenging Words
  • Accumulate -- to acquire or gather more of something
  • Polish -- to rub something with a cloth until it is shiny or reflects an image

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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