Undeserved gifts
LENT
The Lord has given comfort to his people; he comes to your rescue. ~ Isaiah 52:9b (CEV)
You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. ~ Ephesians 2:8 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
All the good things we have which make life liveable are undeserved gifts from God.
PRAYER:
Lord, you have certainly treated me much better than I deserve. Why is it then, that I so easily slip into trying to earn your favor -- trying to make myself look and feel deserving? Help me to repent of such presumption and to totally trust in your grace. I'm going to enjoy your gifts and allow them to transform my life so that Christ my gracious Savior is better recognized by all who encounter me. 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)
