3 Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us—He calls us children of God! It’s true; we are His beloved children. 1 John 3:1 The Voice
It dawned on me this morning, I have been largely replacing My Utmost for His Highest for the Bible. Many mornings I open an electronic version of the Chambers' book on my computer, read the usually abbreviated verse associated with that day's entry, mull over Chambers' take on that verse, then respond using this blog. I enjoy Chambers writings, and it has helped to keep me fairly regular in my entries, but it has stunted my time in the scripture. Chambers should be an appetizer, not the main course. His writings should supplement, not supplant the Holy Writ.
Today's verse was drawn from the Chambers tome, but I am only going to include the verse, not his entire entry.
The translation I chose for today's verse was The Voice. I admit to being ignorant of the translation's origin, reliability, and/or purpose, but at least for this verse, it aligned closely with several other translations.
The reason I selected The Voice's translation was the feeling I got when I read it. There was an excitement and joy present that was lacking in other translations. I felt that John would have written such a verse with feelings of elation and jubilance.
God's love for us is "extravagant". His love for us is over the top! Unrealistic! Pressed down and running over! (Luke 6:38)
He "lavishes" that love on us. His love for us "goes beyond a normal or acceptable limit in degree or amount".*
In The Voice the translators have used an exclamation point to punctuate the first part of today's verse. !!!! Excitement! Exuberance! The exclamation point was most likely first used during the Middle Ages, but I envision John's face smiling, his quill emphatically penning today's verse. Nothing but an exclamation point would do.
Finally, The Voice reminds that we are His "beloved" children. After being in education for 29 years, I am all too often aware that just being a child of a parent, does not guarantee being "dearly loved : dear to the heart".** "Beloved" even receives the special recognition of being italicized in The Voice. The translators did not want us to miss it. "Beloved". Dearly loved. Dear to the heart. Deep. Passionate.
God lavishes His extravagant love on His children! That is most certainly deserving of an exclamation mark!
*MW Online
**MW Online
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