One way or the other
Elijah said: "How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!" ~ 1 Kings 18:21 (NLT)
Jesus said: Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. ~ Mark 2:21 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
It doesn't work to try and live in both the old way and the new way. You have to make a choice.
PRAYER:
Lord,
THANKS: Thank you for giving us a choice -- a way out of the dysfunctional old life.
REGRETS: I'm one of those people who wavers back and forth between the old and the new. I cause a lot of damage to myself and others because of that.
INTERCESSION: I want to change and I need to have some help sticking with the new way.
PURPOSE: I'm no longer going to be flaky. I going to be all about following Jesus.
Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 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)
