Show light
Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. ~ Isaiah 58:10 (NLT)
Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. ~ Philippians 4:5 (CEB)
God, your ways seem so contrary to how we believe things need to be done. The people who come out ahead in this world are tough and strong -- looking out for their own self-interests. But you want us to pour our energy into helping those in need. You think that we should get reputations for being gentle instead of tough. That's going to be hard. And I'm afraid of hard. I am so ready to do the easy thing. But I'm going to trust you to bring fruit out of these counter-cultural activities. Knowing that you are close by gives me confidence to shine your light into a dark and crazy world. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
