Rewards and Righteousness
The Lord rewards every person for their righteousness and loyalty... ~ 1 Samuel 26:23a (CEB)
Happy are people whose lives are harassed because they are righteous, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. ~ Matthew 5:10 (CEB)
Lord, no act of goodness or faithfulness escapes your attention. Sometimes it feels like the bad people are winning. I get discouraged because I'm not seeing the big picture. Open my eyes to see how you bless and reward us even when we are under attack. I know that I am righteous -- not because I have righteousness of my own -- but because Jesus shares his righteousness with me. So I know that an attack on me for doing right is really an attack on Jesus. And he is powerful enough to take care of that -- and he'll do so in his own time. I'm happy. 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)
