Daily Devotion

Saturday, March 15, 2026  

Today's Scripture
Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Reflection

Every Sunday night, when I FaceTime with my college-age son, we open with the same check-in: “How’s your body? How’s your mind? How’s your spirit?”

So, as I slowly and meditatively repeat these words from Psalm 51, it is the phrase “right spirit” that emerges. What is a “right” spirit, and can God simply “put” a right spirit within me? Within my son? Within us all?

This morning, the brokenness of our world weighs heavily — how much better it would be if God’s Holy Spirit simply crept in and removed any of our “wrong” spirits! Why doesn’t God take away anything in human nature that is cruel, callous, or indifferent, replacing these all-too-human instincts with only those that come from the Spirit?

But then my mind turns to these words (paraphrased) from Micah 6:8: God has told you what is good — to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God, and I am reminded that Psalm 51 opens with a cry for mercy. The only reason I can boldly ask God to renew my spirit (and my son’s) is because God is eager to be merciful.

Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., recently wrote: “For Christians, mercy is not optional. It reveals God’s very nature and God’s relationship with us, which we experience as unmerited grace.”

Perhaps rather than wrestle with how God might “right” the “wrongs” of my spirit, I can simply be grateful for God’s grace — and take every opportunity to extend this mercy to others.

Prayer

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Amen.

Written by Amy Pagliarella, Parish Associate for Caring Ministries of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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