Real love
Christmas
You, my people, have sinned
in two ways—
you have rejected me,
the source
of life-giving water,
and you’ve tried to collect water
in cracked and leaking pits
dug in the ground. ~ Jeremiah 2:13 (CEV)
Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. ~ 1 John 4:10 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHTS:
While all our attempts at relating to God are sloppy and ineffective, in his love, God sends the perfect sacrifice who implements forgiveness and reconciliation.
PRAYER:
Merry Chritmas, God! Thank you for sending yourself into our broken and leaky world. We know that the problem is of our own doing. Yet your love transcends the problem of sin. Thank you for reaching out! 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)
