Sunday, March 15, 2015

Obedience

Obey me so that I may become your God and you may become my people. ~ Jeremiah 7:23 (CEB)

Jesus answered,… “All who love me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. My Father and I will come to them and live with them.” ~ John 14:23 (ERV)

Lord, it appears that if this relationship we have is going to work, I'm going to have to start doing what you say. And truthfully, I've become pretty used to getting my own way. At times I twist what you say or conveniently ignore some of it. I look for loop holes. I am a manipulator. And I need an attitude adjustment that I can't generate on my own. In order to obey you I need to start thinking like you and for you. I need you to break through my facade of obedience and to implement real change. I'm trusting that you're acting on this even now. Amen.

Challenging Words
  • loop holes -- weaknesses in the way that rules are written that allow people to ignore the intention of the rules
  • manipulator -- someone who manipulates, a person who tries to arrange things so that they happen in his or her favor, a trickster
  • an attitude adjustment -- idiom that refers to a change of heart, a different way of thinking and responding
  • facade -- the outward appearance, often a pleasant outward appearance that hides something ugly underneath

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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