Sacrifice
Saint Nicholas Day
So I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be abused. ~ Ezekiel 34:22a (NLT)
Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her... ~ Ephesians 5:25b (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
God loves us so much that he has sacrificed his own life to rescue us.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your sacrifice. It is such an amazing thing that I don't fully understand how it all worked. Nor do I understand how it is that I'm so lukewarm about it all. I need you to grab my heart and imagination so that my life is totally changed by the sacrifice you made. I also want to help others see how much you have done for us. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase -- a 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)
NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (© 1989 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.)