Love
LENT
Better to eat vegetables with people you love than to eat the finest meat where there is hate. ~ Proverbs 15:17 (GNT)
Paul writes: If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
Love is the active ingredient that makes life work.
PRAYER:
Lord, you loved us so much that you sent your only Son to die for us. That's a lot of love. But I've heard this so often that it does not seem like such a big deal. Help me to recover the sense of wonder and the faith to extend your love to others -- particularly to those who don't get along with me. I'm going to love as Jesus loves -- and that is a big deal. 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)
