Change
(Naaman said,) “From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord."
2 Kings 5:17b (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. ~ Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Dear Heavenly Father, even though your ways are clearly better than the behavior and customs of the world, at times I still gravitate toward those behaviors and customs. I don't understand why I do that. I should be further along than I am. But I still need you to change me some more. That's my prayer. Just as you want me to be different, I need you to make me different. And I mean different in a good way -- a Jesus way. Please continue on with your work in my life and I will try to not get in the way. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own 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)
NRSVue = New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (© 2021 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.)
REB = Revised English Bible (© 1989 Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press) TCEB = The Casual English Bible (© Stephen M. Miller)