I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

What Is in Every Human Heart--Sept. 1, 2013


 God, you know what is in every human heart.
In every one of us you have placed a gift.
Teach us to develop our gift and use it
not for our own glory, but for you.

If Jesus did not seek his own glory,  
how much less should we seek our own?
May your name be exalted above the heavens,
O Holy One of Israel, your glory over all the earth.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23
1 Kings 8:22-40
1 Tim. 4:7b-16
John 8:47-59

Selected Verses

Ps. 108:5
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,          
          and let your glory be over all the earth.               

1 Kings 8:39
"…then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know--according to all their ways, for only you know what is in every human heart…"  [Solomon's prayer before the alter]

1 Tim. 4:14a
Do not neglect the gift that is in you…

John 8:50
"…Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge.  …"  [Jesus to those who said he had a demon]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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