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.

No Root of Bitterness--Feb. 8, 2014


 Your steadfast love, O God, is better than life.
Our lips will praise you.

If any root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble
among us, take it away,

lest we fail to obtain your grace.  Forbid we should quarrel
over what comes from you;

and may we seek your glory, not our own; for you sent Jesus--
there is nothing false in him.

Lectionary Readings  

Ps. 63; 149; 125; 90
Gen. 24:28-38, 49-51
Heb. 12:12-29
John 7:14-36

Selected Verses

Ps. 63:3
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
          my lips will praise you.

Gen. 24:50
Then Laban and Bethuel answered [Abraham's servant], "The thing comes from the LORD; we cannot speak to you anything bad or good.  …"

Heb. 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

John 7:18
Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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