| We love because He first loved us. | We love each other because he loved us first. |
| The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” | The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. |
| A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. | So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. |
| They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. | They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. |
| Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. | Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. |
| Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. | Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. |
| Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. | Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. |
| One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. | There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. |
| Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. | Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. |
| Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. | Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. |
| Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. | Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. |
| No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. | No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. |
| Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. | Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. |
| For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. | Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. |
| So that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. | Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other. |
| Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. | Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! |
| Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. | So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. |
| We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. | Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. |
| They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. | They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. |
| But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. | But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. |
| If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. | If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. |
| God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. | For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. |
| For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. | Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. |
| He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. | He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. |
| Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. | Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! |
Bible verse of the day
My times are in your hands;deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
from those who pursue me.