Working too hard
God: "Your salvation requires you to turn back to me
and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves." ~ Isaiah 30:15 (MSG)
The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, and it will not be taken away from her.” ~ Luke 10:41-42 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Our assignment is to relax and listen to Jesus rather than to work hard trying to prove our worth to God -- or to ourselves.
PRAYER:
Dear God -- Thank you for welcoming broken and inadquate people to be your friends. It is tempting to try and prove that we are worthy of such attention. I know this because I slip into doing this without even thinking about it. I want recognition. Please help me to reset my priorities so that I focus on being with you and listening to you. I want to live a quiet unhurried life totally filled with trust in you. 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)
