The path
THE 14th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
Right-living people walk them easily;
wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling. ~ Hosea 14:9b (MSG)
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ~ Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
We need to help each other stay on the right path.
PRAYER:
Great God -- pioneering God, you have cut a good path for us upon which you want us to walk. Thank you for the gift of that path. But I am careless about staying on the trail. I'm inclined to think that the signs are meant for others and that it won't do any harm if I wander off -- only a little. Help me to take your pathway seriously -- and to look out for other wanderers who might be setting themselves up to trip and fall. Perhaps by helping others stay on course I'll be doing the same for myself. 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)
