Paul (not me) said, “Let love be genuine” in Romans 12:9.

That’s in the ESV translation. It’s close to what I first heard as a young person.

My favorite Bible translation* is the New Living Translation (NLT). Here is how the people who worked on that translation translated that same verse: “Don’t pretend to love others. Really love them.”

How do we really love people?

The answer lies in reading the rest of verse 9 and all of verse ten…

“Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (NLT).

The first two phrases could relate to loving another person or loving yourself. The second two phrases seem to relate mostly to loving others…

Genuine affection – Eugene Peterson in The Message translates that as, “Be good friends who love deeply.”

“Take delight in honoring each other” (NLT). I love that! Here are a few ideas on how to apply this idea…

• It’s challenging to honor someone else in the heat of the moment. When I get cut off in traffic. Will I purposefully let two people enter the traffic in front of me? Can I delight in doing that?
• What would you like someone to do for you? Do that for someone else! (Be careful to figure out if your idea meets their desires before diving in.)
• Does the person you want to honor not appreciate recognition in front of others? Privately let them know how much you appreciate something they did or said.

Take some time to explore new ways of honoring each other this week.

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Paul Merrill writes here every first Friday.

I created the illustration using ChatGPT with a prompt of something like, “abstract painting of a valentine’s heart in the style of Rothko.” Then I used Photoshop’s AI to expand it to a horizontal format.

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* I did not go to seminary. I haven’t yet learned to read and comprehend Greek, the original language Paul used to write Romans. That’s why I love looking at several English translations. People who did learn ancient Greek worked on those translations. And I like the NLT because it’s closest to the version of English that I speak. King James is not.

If you’d like to explore different Bible Translations, the Bible Gateway website has a drop-down for each verse or chapter that lets you explore how a Bible passage reads in many different translations – and not just in English!