Inside and out
The Lord your God is more powerful than all other gods and lords, and his tremendous power is to be feared. His decisions are always fair, and you cannot bribe him to change his mind. ~ Deuteronomy 10:17 (CEV)
You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. ~ Matthew 5:8 (MSG)
SUMMARY SENTENCE You can't buy God but through Christ he wants to change your interior life so that his presence is evident in your exterior life.
PRAYER All knowing God, thank you for the way that you are putting the world right through Christ. I confess that not everything is right inside my heart and mind. I'm inclined to let things get out of hand. My thoughts are not very kind and sometimes that translates into unkind action. Forgive me and continue to change me so that my life -- inside and out -- are more fully aligned with the mission of Christ. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own 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)
