Sermon Text: Matthew 5:21-37
That we may be your true ones in every situation
Living Word, may the heart of all that we are and do be shaped by your presence, instruction and example.
Enable us to set aside anger, in its many forms, including actual and implied violence that diminishes and harms others. Enable us to set aside our lust for power over others, sexual and otherwise, for the sense of control it gives us. Help us take whatever steps are necessary in order to escape the snare in which these kinds of sin hold us.
Help us not to treat our most intimate relationships as disposable ones that we may set aside when they become less that fully satisfactory or otherwise inconvenient for us. Help us remember that they are your precious gifts. Enable us to invest ourselves in these relationships with tenacious fidelity. Let us take the lead in being a blessing to the other.
Help us not to speak in ways that make our motivations seem more holy that they actually are. Help us not to use vows to prop up the truth of our words, but enable us to speak the truth boldly, to say, “Yes,” or “No,” as the situation requires, without hedging our bets with evasive words.
Enable us to be your true ones in every situation. May we seek your forgiveness and restoration when we fail. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment