By grace
He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter. ~ Psalm 30:5 (MSG)
For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift... ~ Ephesians 2:8 (GNT)
KEY IDEA:
God sets his anger aside to graciously love his people.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for loving me. I am not very loveable in and of what or who I am. I'm very unimpressive. I'm a broken person without a lot to offer you. So you do it all through your grace -- your generosity. Help me to live faithfully by faith in what Christ Jesus has done (and is doing) to draw me to yourself. I'm not going to be prideful of my spiritual progress but will denounce all such attitudes to acknowledge the great gift that comes through Jesus. 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)
