Managing gifts
O Lord, the earth is full of your unfailing love; instruct me so that I am living according to your way of doing things. ~ Psalm 119:64 (ABP)
Since God gives various kinds of gifts to each of us, make sure that you manage your gift well and that you are using it to serve others. ~ 1 Peter 4:10 (ABP)
KEY IDEA:
Use whatever gifts that God has lovingly entrusted to you to serve others.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are generous beyond what I can comprehend. Thank you for entrusting me with so many gifts.
I confess, though, that my first inclination is to use whatever I have received to serve myself. Help me to look beyond self and to see the bigger picture. I'm going to love others in the same way that you have loved me. 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)
