Visible to all
All the ends of the earth have seen
God’s power to save. ~ Psalm 98:3b (NCV)
Then Jesus said to them, “Do you hide a lamp under a bowl or under a bed? No! You put the lamp on a lampstand. ~ Mark 4:21 (NCV)
It's pretty clear, Lord, that your message isn't hidden and secretly kept for an elite group. You want the whole world to see what you are up to. And in an opaque age of hidden conspiracy theories and secret schemes, your global transparency is refreshing. It doesn't make sense, then, that I keep so many secrets. Sometimes it makes me feel extra special knowing that I have your truth in my back pocket and so much of the world is so clueless. Help me to get with your program. I want to make sure that your light shines to the world. And, please, start with me. I'm going take my Jesus light out of my pocket and I'm going to put it on a lampstand to make light for all. 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)
