AGGRESSIVE GRACE
ISAIAH 53:12 (MSG)
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
LUKE 6:28 (CEB)
Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God doesn't just tolerate those who rebel against him, his way is to bless them.
PRAYER
Gracious God, thank you for the way that you love us even when we are deadset against you. I admit that I haven't yet fully embraced your approach to peacemaking and reconciliation. I'm prone to curse those who wrong me. Reformat my life so that it functions in a totally Christ-like and Spirit-driven way. I'm going to approach those who oppose me with aggressive grace. 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)
