God's love
Share your home with the poor and homeless. ~ Isaiah 58:7 (CEV)
We love because God loved us first. ~ 1 John 4:19 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God loved us before we could ever prove our love for him.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for loving me before I even felt the need to love you. Your love, like your grace, is truly prevenient. Forgive me for thinking that everything originates from my own heart -- that my relationship with you hinges on my doing. And help me to love those who have nothing to offer me -- just as you have loved me. I'm going to share your love -- and my home. 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)
NRSVue = New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (© 2021 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.) NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)
REB = Revised English Bible (© 1989 Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press) TCEB = The Casual English Bible (© Stephen M. Miller)