Responsiveness
Then God called out, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.” ~ 1 Samuel 3:4 (MSG)
A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men. ~ Mark 1:19-20 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
We are at our best when we immediately respond to the call of God.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for calling people like me -- weak people, broken people, young people, old people, distracted people... You call us to follow you and act on your agenda for your world. Sometimes, though, I fill my life with so much noise that I don't really hear you. Maybe I even do that so that I don't have to respond to your call and I can continue on with a "normal" life. Help me to be receptive to your interruptions. I'm going to reduce the noise and open my ears so that I can quickly respond to your voice. 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)
