Get real!
“This is what the Lord, the Hebrews’ God, says: How long will you refuse to respect me? ~ Exodus 10:3 (part) (CEB)
You're pathetic -- going around bragging about how much of a self-made person you are. You say that you're "rich -- and needing nothing from anyone." You are so clueless that you don't even realize how bad off you are. You've deceived yourself! In reality land you're worse off than a naked and blind homeless beggar. ~ Revelation 3:17 (ABP)
Lord, sometimes I wonder if I'm no better off than the clueless people in the Bible. Like most people, I'm slow to respond to the voice of God. It's because I'm overconfident about what I can accomplish on my own and arrogant in my assessment of what I've done. Please give me some reality medicine -- even if it is unpleasant. More than anything I need to deal with reality as you see it. Amen.
*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)
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)
