This week’s promotional discount is on my 2003 book Daily Prayer, the most popular of my many publications, slightly ahead of No Ordinary Man and Prayers for All Seasons. Normally retailing at £14.99 (or £12.99 for the pocket edition), this week, until 20 September, you can purchase it at a 10 per cent discount – a saving of £1.50 – using the code DAILY10 when ordering the book from the Kevin Mayhew website. Just type the code into the relevant box at the checkout between the dates given.
Meanwhile, here’s the second of seven sessions I’ll be posting this week from the book, to run alongside this promotion. This one explores the memorable story of the Garden of Eden, and the attempt of Adam and Eve to excuse their succumbing to temptation:
Excuses, excuses
Read
The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard your footfall in the garden, and I was ashamed because I was naked, so I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I told you not to eat from?’ The man said, ‘The woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What have you done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent misled me, and I ate.’ Genesis 3:9-13
Ponder
Are you good at admitting your mistakes? I wish I were. To hold up one’s hand and candidly admit one has done wrong is a rare gift, taking courage that few of us possess. Our natural reaction is more like that of Adam and Eve, frantically trying to justify our actions. ‘It wasn’t my fault,’ we claim. ‘I was forced into it. My hands were tied.’ Deep down, though, we know that the responsibility to choose is ours, no one else’s. We are all answerable for our own actions. It isn’t easy to admit our mistakes, but until we learn to do that, they will hang heavy upon us, impinging on our relationships with those we have wronged. Acknowledge our errors, and we pave the way to forgiveness and a new beginning.
Ask yourself
Have you sufficient courage and honesty to admit your mistakes? Is it time you stopped hiding behind excuses?
Pray
Lord, I don’t like being wrong. It hurts my pride and goes against the grain to admit I’ve made a mistake. I prefer to blame somebody else, to look for an excuse that justifies my actions, but though I may fool myself, I can never fool you. Forgive me, Lord, for those times I have shifted the blame on to others. Forgive me for hiding behind falsehoods and half-truths, letting excuses become so much part of me that I no longer realise I am making them. Teach me to act wisely and with integrity; and when I go wrong, give me courage to admit it and humility to accept my dependence on your unfailing grace. Amen.
Remember
Let no one, experiencing temptation, suggest that the temptation comes from God, for God has no interest in evil and would never tempt anyone. Each person is lured by their own desires, enticed and ensnared until desire spawns sin, which in turn leads on to death. My dear friends, do not be taken in. James 1:13-16
Close
Loving God, grant me grace to be honest with you, with others and with myself. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.