Christmas thoughts.
Sometimes we need things put in a different way, we need things phrased differently. Recently I got some people to read out John 1 in three different versions of the Bible. Hearing the familiar words expanded, rearranged and explained helped get the meaning across loud and clear. Here are some examples:
From the Amplified Bible:
"All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it]."
"And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth."
From the Message:
"The Word became flesh and blood,and moved into the neighborhood We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish."
From the Word on the Street:
"Bizarre! No-one recognises him! He speaks them into existence, but they don't recognise him or his voice."
"So God's voice gets flesh and blood, skin and bone. He spends time with us; we hang around with him, get to know him and see what he's like. And? As magnificent, as superb as you'd expect God's only son to be."
The point? God has come into this world as one of us. We can know him. He has revealed himself to us. We are not left in the dark. Yes, there are a million things I do not understand about God. But I can know Him. Christmas reminds me of who he is and how I can. That makes all the difference in facing whatever good or bad confronts me. Well, sometimes it does. Sometimes I want to scream and rage and cry. And I can. Because he came. I can't escape the reality of being held by the Maker of the world. Right now I don't really want to.
From the Amplified Bible:
"All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it]."
"And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth."
From the Message:
"The Word became flesh and blood,and moved into the neighborhood We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish."
From the Word on the Street:
"Bizarre! No-one recognises him! He speaks them into existence, but they don't recognise him or his voice."
"So God's voice gets flesh and blood, skin and bone. He spends time with us; we hang around with him, get to know him and see what he's like. And? As magnificent, as superb as you'd expect God's only son to be."
The point? God has come into this world as one of us. We can know him. He has revealed himself to us. We are not left in the dark. Yes, there are a million things I do not understand about God. But I can know Him. Christmas reminds me of who he is and how I can. That makes all the difference in facing whatever good or bad confronts me. Well, sometimes it does. Sometimes I want to scream and rage and cry. And I can. Because he came. I can't escape the reality of being held by the Maker of the world. Right now I don't really want to.
posted by Kath at 11:52 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home