Category: NLT Resources

Streetlights is a ministry of Creative Communicators called to intentionally engage global urban culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by producing, translating, teaching and proclaiming God’s Word so all can understand. Their identity and call are founded on the belief that God’s Word is transformational and needs to be accessible and understandable to all people. We are excited to partner with them on this amazing New Testament resource that combines audio and visual elements to encourage people to listen to, read, and study the Bible with fresh ears and hearts.

Hear the Streetlights team share their hearts and passion to connect people with God’s life-transforming word without barriers.

Learn more about the Streetlights New Testament

Learn more about the Streetlights Team

“Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.)” Mark 15:43, NLT

Taken from the Streetlights New Testament

Fear of what others may think or do to us because we follow Jesus Christ can be intimidating, especially when we first start following Him. The risk is real and should be expected. Following Christ does come with a cost, but the rewards are many.

Joseph of Arimathea was transformed from a timid, hidden Christian into a bold representative of Christ. God can do this in all of us. There had to be a moment after Jesus’ death when Joseph was convicted and said, You know what? I loved Jesus Christ, His death was wrong, and I will not be ashamed anymore! His faith was put into action, and his fear was defeated. He understood that being bold for Christ was worth far more than being ashamed of the God he believed in.

Timidity is a natural temptation for all believers in Christ. But God calls us to be unashamed and to ask Him for boldness to represent His reality to our world—no matter the cost! Fear has a way of paralyzing our faith, but God can transform us into believers who are willing to live out our faith both in private and in public. What are some fears that paralyze you? How has God caused you to become bolder in your faith in front of other people?

Learn more about the Streetlights New Testament

Meet the Streetlights Team

“So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up. First they took him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest at that time. Caiaphas was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, ‘It’s better that one man should die for the people.'” John 14:12-14, NLT

Taken from the Streetlights New Testament

Is Jesus a threat to you? Does He threaten what you’ve built and what you’ve made for yourself? Would He disrupt the name you’ve made for yourself, the success you’ve worked hard for, or the relationships and recognition you’ve been able to get?

Yes! Jesus should disrupt all those things—because what He offers is better. He has love for you worth more than the approval you can get from your friends. His power and success is greater than anyone else’s because He has conquered death and the grave. And what He wants to give you is eternal, safe, and protected from everything you may encounter in this temporary life.

When all was said and done, when Jesus rose again with all power in His possession, Caiaphas still refused to believe in Him, and he even went as far to silence and persecute those who did. Caiaphas represents the people who refuse to believe because they think accepting Jesus as Lord will cost them too much. They choose the fleeting power, celebrity, or pleasures of this life instead of the eternal life God offers those who receive His Son.

What’s your choice? Is Jesus worth it? Is He that valuable? Is it worth giving up everything to possess what He has? Or is He so much of a threat that He must be removed from your life at all costs? As it was for Caiaphas and the Sadducees he led, the choice is yours.

Learn more about the Streetlights New Testament

Meet the Streetlights Team

Lent Week 5: Readings from the Mosaic Bible

Isaiah 58:1-12• Psalm 130• Romans 8:6-11• Matthew 6:1-21

For many Christians, it’s customary to fast from some sort of pleasure or indulgence during Lent. When determining what to fast from, we often select something we perceive to be hindering growth in our relationship with Jesus Christ. But the most ancient forms of fasting—abstaining from food or observing a strict diet—were not done in an effort to remove sinful pleasures from one’s life. Perhaps in losing the art of fasting, we have lost the understanding about what can be gained from voluntarily giving up a presumed necessity. Throughout biblical and Christian history, many have fasted for reasonable and healthy periods. True, the expectations of instant gratification in our culture do not react well to the denial of nourishment. Could it be that God has something to reveal to us in the midst of our momentary self-denial?

Suggested Reading : Isaiah 58:1-14

And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.—Matthew 6:16-18

The Apostles’ Teaching on Fasting
But don’t let your fasts be like the hypocrites. They fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but you should fast on the fourth day and the day of preparation (Friday). Also, don’t pray like the hypocrites, but pray as the Lord commanded in his gospel: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. The power and the glory are yours forever. Pray in this way three times each day. —Didache (c. 90–180)

“I can begin to see that Jesus expects us to fast not because He is arbitrary or capricious or cruel, but because fasting does good work on both our bodies and our souls.” —Lauren F. Winner (USA/Contemporary)

John Calvin (France/1509-1564)
“Holy and lawful fasting has three objectives. We use it either to weaken and subdue the flesh that it might not act wantonly, or that we may be better prepared for prayers and holy meditations, or that it may be a testimony of our self-abasement before God when we wish to confess our guilt before him.”

“Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.”—Exodus 34:28

“Christians throughout history have fasted in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. In addition to the elements of repentance and humility before God in this kind of fast, it is also intended to help the person focus on adoring the One who is represented in the Supper.”—Donald S. Whitney (USA/Contemporary)

“Fasting is not confined to abstinence from eating and drinking. Fasting really means voluntary abstinence for a time from various necessities of life, such as food, drink, sleep, rest, association with people and so forth. The purpose of such abstinence . . . is to loosen to some degree the ties which bind us to the world of material things and our surroundings as a whole, in order that we may concentrate all our spiritual powers upon the unseen and eternal things.” —Ole Hallesby (Norway/1879–1961)

Purposeful Fasting
by Clyde Taber
Fasting is a strange word to our ears. We cringe, hesitate, and dismiss it. We sidestep it as gingerly as the religious leaders bypassed the beaten man in Jesus’ parable. Yet fasting was part of the rhythm and flow of the life of
the early church.

Jesus Christ affirmed and embraced the Old Covenant practice of fasting: “When you give to someone in need” (Matthew 6:2), “when you pray” (Matthew 6:5), “when you fast” (Matthew 6:16)—he taught all this on the Mount. Jesus assumed that giving, praying, and fasting were a normal part of the spiritual life. These are not electives, but part of the
core teaching in the school of Christ.

Fasting preceded many great hinge points in human history. After Moses fasted, he received the tablets that changed our knowledge of sin and the world’s sense of rightness (Exodus 34:28). After Jesus fasted, the cup began to flow with the wine of the New Covenant (Matthew 4:2). After the early church leaders fasted, the Jesus movement exploded beyond the borders of Palestine (Acts 13:2). The twentieth-century church in Asia fasted, and now it grows at unprecedented rates. The Father loves to reward those who fast with a pure heart (Matthew 6:18).

Fasting precedes purpose, and so purpose should precede fasting. When we fast, we should consider it a time of “setting aside” in order to “take up.” We abstain from food for a time in order to better focus on Christ and his Kingdom. Fasting requires resolution and dedication. We take time to exit the highway of our busy lives. Fasting is most beneficial when accompanied with seeking, sacrificing, and sowing to the Spirit rather than the flesh. When we eat, we satisfy the flesh. When we fast, we reach beyond the flesh to the realm of the Spirit.

Fruitfulness in fasting is not quickly achieved. It is a practice that is enhanced with time and experience. When we enter into a season of fasting, the Lord gives grace. For a moment it reminds us of death, and then the Spirit translates the absence of food into a sense of life, light, and discernment.

As Jesus Christ was deliberate in his journey to Jerusalem, may we follow him in this practice. Not “if you fast,” but “when you fast.”

Delivers Us From Fear of the Unknown
O Lord, we beseech thee to deliver us from the fear of the
unknown future; from fear of failure; from fear of poverty;
from fear of bereavement; from fear of loneliness; from fear
of sickness and pain; from fear of age; and from fear of death.
Help us, O Father, by thy grace to love and fear thee only,
fill our hearts with cheerful courage and loving trust in thee;
through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.
—Akanu Ibaim (Nigeria/1906–1995)

by Molly Jo Nyman

Whether it’s a man who reluctantly walks into church on a Wednesday afternoon, a church member facing an unexpected crisis, or a new believer trying to figure out how to follow Christ, Daniel Thrower is ready to engage and encourage. And as a Connections Pastor at Hope Church in upstate South Carolina, he’s very clear about his role on the front lines of spiritual battles.

“My goal is not to have people connect with me or my church; my ultimate goal is to connect people to God Himself.”

Knowing there’s no better way to do that than through the Word of God, Daniel gives out a lot of Bibles—and the New Living Translation is his Bible of choice.

“There’s no translation quite like it for making the Word of God accessible and palatable,” Daniel said. While Bible scholars may enjoy the debate on translation methods and accuracy, there is no question that the NLT is both faithful to the ancient texts and extremely readable.

“I think of it like this: Raw veggies may be slightly healthier, but if people can’t or won’t eat them, what good are they? The NLT adds a little salt and butter. Now I can eat helping after helping because it tastes so good!” Daniel explained.

In addition to his conclusion that spiritual nourishment from the NLT is “easy to absorb,” he’s observed another important feature. The NLT helps people grasp the heart of God as they read the Word of God.”

“As I listened to sermons where various translations are read out loud, the NLT stood out to me every time I heard it. It felt warm and had a natural flow. Because I want people to love Scripture, this is a great way for them to read it,” Daniel said. “If the Bible feels like a foreign language, distant and hard to understand, people can project that on to God.”

As Daniel meets with people at critical times, he’s not offering a quick fix, but rather an eternal perspective.

“I grow oak trees not okra. So I’m laboring knowing there will be slow development. I’ve found the NLT to be the easiest way to let people ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8) so they are able to cultivate a real love for God’s Word.”

From the HelpFinder Bible

A friend mentions in casual conversation that she enjoyed a terrific meal at a new restaurant and thinks you would like it too. A stranger overhears you and your spouse wondering if a certain movie would be good to rent for a family night and offers that his kids thought it was great. Both the friend and the stranger are witnesses. Although the word tends to conjure images of courtrooms or awkward religious proselytizing, to witness simply means to tell about something you have experienced. According to the Bible, every believer shares the privilege and responsibility of witnessing. We should always be ready to tell the story of how we met and grew to love Jesus. That story is the greatest story you can tell.

What does the Bible say about witnessing?

Is witnessing really necessary?

PSALM 107:2 | Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

MARK 16:15 | And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”
God has offered a way to rescue everyone from eternal death. No wonder the Bible calls this Good News! If you have discovered this rescue plan, which is to believe in Jesus as your Savior, then you will want to tell others about what he has done for you.

MARK 1:17 | Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

ACTS 11:24 | Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.
Telling others the story of Jesus is an essential part of being a follower of Jesus. Simply tell others why you love him, and he promises to soften the hearts of many who listen.

2 KINGS 7:9 | “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! . . . Come on, let’s go back and tell the people.”

ACTS 8:13 | Then Simon himself believed and was baptized.

ROMANS 10:14 | But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
It is not right to keep the Good News to yourself. The only way some people can experience all the benefits of following God is by hearing and believing his message of Good News—from you! Being a Christian isn’t about getting “in” to some exclusive group. It’s about experiencing something so wonderful that you can’t wait to invite others to experience it, too. Is this how you feel about being a Christian?

JOHN 9:13-15, 24-25 | Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”. . . So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a
sinner.” “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”
A straightforward description of your personal encounter with Jesus is a powerful testimony.

What if I find it difficult to share my faith?

MATTHEW 18:14 | “It is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.”
Our commitment to witnessing begins by understanding that lost people matter to God.

JOHN 7:13 | But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public.
Even those who knew Jesus best struggled with a hesitancy to witness.

LUKE 12:8 | “I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels.”

DANIEL 12:3 | “Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.”
God will honor those who honor him by proclaiming the Good News of what he has done. There is no greater purpose in life than sharing the message that could make the eternal difference in someone’s life.

2 TIMOTHY 1:7-8 | For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.
When the enemy tries to intimidate you with lies about your inadequacies, you can summon that same power God used to transform your life to boldly share your faith.

Learn more about the HelpFinder Bible

Lent Week 3: Readings from the Mosaic Bible

Exodus 17:1-7 • Psalm 95 •Romans 5:1-21• John 4:5-42

Sometimes it’s hard for us to get a solid grip on holiness. We’re far removed from the Temple, which gave concrete expression to God’s holiness. We don’t have archived video of the Transfiguration, where Jesus revealed himself to his closest disciples. We lack tangible representations of holiness.

Still, is it possible that, like the saints before us, we can experience holiness? Maybe, more than we realize or care to admit, God’s holiness is all around us. If that’s the case, the implications could be vast.

If holiness is no longer a place in the Temple or a sacred ark, what is holiness? Where is holiness? And who is holy?

Suggested Readings : Psalm 11 • Psalm 93

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!—Isaiah 6:3

“When we speak of grace, we think of the fact that [God’s] favourable inclination towards the creature does not allow itself to be soured and frustrated by the resistance of the latter. When we speak of holiness, we think, on the other hand, of the fact that His favourable inclination overcomes and destroys this resistance.

To say grace is to say the forgiveness of sins; to say holiness, judgment upon sins. But since both reflect the love of God, how can there be the one without the other, forgiveness without judgment or judgment without forgiveness?

Only where God’s love is not yet revealed, not yet or no longer believed, can there be here a separation instead of a distinction. In this case forgiveness would be inferred in abstracto from sin, and judgment from condemnation. It would not be God’s judgment in the one case or God’s forgiveness in the other.

If we speak in faith, and therefore in the light of God and His love, and therefore of God’s forgiveness and judgment, as our insight grows we shall distinguish, but we shall certainly not separate, between God’s grace and God’s holiness.

The link between the two is decisively summed up in the fact that both characterise and distinguish His love and therefore Himself in His action in the covenant, as the Lord of the covenant between Himself and His creature.” -Karl Barth (Switzerland/1886-1968)

For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.
But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of
righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin
and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.—Romans 5:17

Meditation

Prayer To The Holy Spirit
Breathe in me,
O Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me,
O Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart,
O Holy Spirit,
that I love only what is holy.

Strengthen me,
O Holy Spirit,
to defend all that is holy.

Guard me, then,
O Holy Spirit,
that I may always be holy.
—Augustine of Hippo (Algeria/354–430)

Holy God
by Keith Potter
In the season of Lent we remember the great sacrifice that Jesus Christ made, the forgiveness that was paid for with his life. We confess that our sins have gotten in the way of a relationship with God.

However, our confession will be thin and hollow unless we understand how great and holy God is. We are forever underestimating the seriousness of sin and its effects, making us unlike God and unfit for his good fellowship. Our efforts at forgiving ourselves and others will be thin and hollow as well unless we understand how God’s grace so completely covers us through Jesus Christ, making us righteous in God’s eyes and fit for his good fellowship.

So in this season, we meditate on God’s holiness and wonder what it would be like to be filled only with loving intentions and healthy motivations, like our God.

In Isaiah 6, we discover that the story of the great prophet starts with a grand vision of God on his throne, surrounded by angelic beings. Day and night, these attendants cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

Isaiah’s response?

“It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies” (Isaiah 6:5).

Seeing God gave Isaiah eyes to see himself. Unclean. Badly acculturated in the filth of his surroundings. Anything but holy.

So God touched Isaiah. He enjoys forgiveness and cleansing and a new readiness. God calls out for a human agent.

Isaiah responds, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”

That can be our story. In light of God’s holiness, we come undone. “Woe is me! I’m an unclean person among unclean people. Now that I really see you, Lord, I see myself. Help!”

And God does help, with a grace greater than our sin. If his holiness is great, his grace is somehow overarching, for it covers every sin of ours that must offend the purity of his holiness. “Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3).

“He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest
and most important thing in the world . . . Unless this is seen, nothing
is seen that is worth the seeing; for there is no other true excellency
or beauty.” —Jonathan Edwards (USA/1703–1758)

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now— when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.—John 4:23

“How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” Psalm 119:103, NLT

Chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and peanut butter filled eggs all make Easter baskets a tasty surprise, but why not give the young person in your life the sweetest gift, God’s Word. From kids to teens and beyond Tyndale Bibles offer engaging Bibles that help your loved ones savor God’s Word.

Hands-On Bible
What if you could not just read but also taste, feel, and smell Bible truths? What if the Bible was filled with games, crafts, and even snacks to make Bible stories come to life? Wouldn’t that make it the coolest Bible around? Enter the Hands-On Bible! This Bible takes you beyond just reading to truly experiencing the Bible through activities that you can do together with your child, making Scripture relevant, fun and memorable.

Boys Life Application Study Bible
Packed full of notes and features, the Boys Life Application Study Bible is easy to use and helps answer the questions preteen boys may have about God and life. The notes help them learn to think biblically about real issues they face, such as self-esteem, friendship, and peer pressure. Discovering God’s will for their lives has never been this much fun!

The Epic Bible
Get swept away by God’s awesome story in this riveting graphic Bible. The Epic Bible tells the central story of the Bible, with dramatic, full-color art created by some of DC and Marvel’s best comic book artists. Whether you’re reading the Bible for the first time or looking for a fresh perspective, The Epic Bible’s cinematic storytelling will make God’s Word come alive.

Girls Life Application Study Bible
A one-of-a-kind discipleship resource, the Girls Life Application Study Bible helps girls draw closer to God and establish healthy relationships with those around them. Over 800 Life Application notes plus full-color features are designed to help girls learn more about the Bible, understand the big story, meet Jesus, know what it means to follow him, learn how to share their faith with others, and gain practical faith and relationship skills that will help them live out what they believe.

Inspired for Girls and More!
Inspire Bible for Girls is designed to draw girls deeper into God’s Word and to inspire creativity and connection with God! It includes over 500 beautiful full and partial-page Scripture line-art illustrations to color are attractively displayed throughout the Bible. In addition, there are over 300 devotionals, journaling prompts, and interesting Bible facts to enhance girls’ coloring and creative journaling journey through the Bible. Girls can leave traces of their faith throughout their Bible for a unique treasure that will truly inspire!

But don’t forget our other titles in the Inspire Bible line. These best-selling coloring and journaling Bibles are perfect for girls and people of all ages.

Streetlights New Testament

The Streetlights New Testament is an interactive, digital experience that cuts through misconceptions about the Bible. It encourages readers to listen to, read, and study it with fresh ears and hearts. It includes access to the Streetlights Audio Bible, and features like profiles, book introductions, and devotionals that encourage youth and young adults to go deeper into God’s Word in a way they can understand.

Teen Life Application Study Bible
The Teen Life Application Study Bible is filled with features designed to meet the challenges and needs of today’s high school students. Combining traditional study Bible features like book introductions, textual notes, person profiles, and maps with application-oriented features focusing on choices, real-life issues, and real-life stories of actual teens, the Teen Life Application Study Bible helps answers the tough questions and ground teens in their faith.

A Few Other Ideas:

Maybe you are looking for an Easter gift for a young adult or someone else in your life. Here are a few ideas:

Filament Bible Collection
These beautifully crafted Bibles offer a simple and engaging reading experience. But just scan a page with your phone or tablet and it opens an app filled with thousands of study and worship resources and content curated to the page you are reading.  

Immerse: The Reading Bible
Ever had a book you just couldn’t put down? Immerse: The Reading Bible takes away all the distractions and gets you right into story. With no chapters and verses and a cover that feels more like a novel than a Bible it’s like reading the Bible again for the first time. Start falling in love with the Bible all over again

Art of Life Bible
The Art of Life Bible weaves the beautiful NLT text into a rich tapestry of artwork illustrating many living things mentioned in Scripture. Captions highlighting their significance and wide-margin design offer readers a unique way to meditate on Scripture focusing on God’s creation. Featuring 450 original hand-drawn illustrations in a unique style this Bible encourages contemplation and visual interaction with the Word.

Lent Week 1 Resource from the Mosaic Bible

Read: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 • Psalm 51• 1 Peter 3:13-22 • Matthew 4:1-11

The season of Lent walks us through the grief of Jesus’ last days before his crucifixion. As we read Jesus’ personal conversation with his disciples in the upper room, we imagine the joy of friendship coupled with the sadness of a friend’s imminent betrayal. As we enter into the darkness of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and beating, we weep with those first Christians, and in our efforts to save Jesus from ourselves, we grieve in our Peter-like betrayals.

The tradition of Lent—a forty-day sacrifice—is one way of mourning the death that sin has caused in our lives. As we see Jesus perfectly withstand Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, we admit our own shortcomings, our own inadequate sacrifices. This period of “giving up” has a profound way of recalling our desperate need for Jesus Christ.

“ All God’s plans have the mark of the cross on them, and all His plans have death to self in them.” —E. M. Bounds (USA/1835–1913)

“Remember what I say: if you would cleave to earthly pleasures, these are the things which murder souls. There is no surer way to get a seared conscience and a hard impenitent heart, than to give way to the desires of the flesh and mind. It seems nothing at first, but it tells in the long run. Consider what Peter says: “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). They destroy the soul’s peace, break down its strength, lead it into hard captivity, make it a slave.

Consider what Paul says: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Colossians 3:5). “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Once the body was a perfect mansion of the soul; now it is all corrupt and disordered, and needs constant watching. It is a burden to the soul—not a helpmeet; a hindrance—not an assistance. It may become a useful servant, but it is always a bad master.

Consider, again, the words of Paul: “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:14). “These,” says Leighton, “are the words, the very reading of which so wrought with Augustine, that from a licentious young man he turned a faithful servant of Jesus Christ.” John Charles Ryle (England 1816-1900)

“People do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word
that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” —Deuteronomy 8:3

“The Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin.” —Watchman Nee (China/1903–1972)

Meditation

AWE – F U L L
Great and holy God
awe and reverence
fear and trembling
do not come easily to us
for we are not
Old Testament Jews
or Moses
or mystics
or sensitive enough.
Forgive us
for slouching into Your presence
with little expectation
and less awe
than we would eagerly give a visiting dignitary.
We need
neither Jehovah nor a buddy—
neither “the Great and Powerful Oz” nor “the man upstairs.”
Help us
to want what we need . . .
You
God
and may the altar of our hearts
tremble with delight
at
Your visitation
amen.
—Frederick Ohler (USA/Contemporary)

Hollow Sacrifice
Eileen Button
Like many Catholic children, I gave up sweets for Lent. I remember creeping downstairs on Easter morning, hoping to be greeted by a marvelous chocolate bunny. After surviving the torturous season of sacrifice, I could barely wait to nibble the cottontail’s long, delicious ears.

I would sometimes be disappointed to find a hollow chocolate cross in my basket instead. Propped in green plastic grass stood a milk chocolate version of my Savior’s object of torture. I couldn’t eat it. It felt blasphemous to do so. While it was almost impossible to endure the long, sweet-less days of Lent, the triviality of my “sacrifice” always shocked me when I was confronted by that chocolate cross on Easter morning.

The season of Lent is puzzling to many. Denying ourselves our favorite treats or habits—even for a short time—seems archaic in our I-want-it-now culture. Lent is a plodding, definitive crescendo that leads up to the cacophonous noise of Good Friday and the gorgeous aria of Easter. It’s a season marked by deliberateness and intentionality.

But we often get in the way of our own best intentions. When fasting we might be tempted to feel a sense of pride about our sacrifice. The very thing we relinquish sometimes clamors inside us as a “need” to be met. Instead of focusing on Jesus Christ, our attention can dangerously be drawn to the very thing we’ve voluntarily surrendered.

Even so, the practice of Lent can be a valuable discipline. It’s difficult to grasp what our sense of entitlement does to our bodies and souls. Our culture worships at the feet of pleasure. As we “shovel it in,” we can become desensitized to our needs—the real hungers in our lives. Observing Lent can help us wrestle with the causes of our perpetual consumption. When we decide to relinquish what fails to truly satisfy, we come face-to-face with some tough questions. Can we believe Jesus when he says, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”? How can we make room for the Savior in our lives? Can we grasp the reality of Good Friday and live within its irony?

Lent challenges us to consider the honest answers to these and other soul-searching questions. It invites us to jump off the hamster wheel of consumption and experience the pinch of abstaining from thoughtless indulgence.

Perhaps I was offended by a hollow chocolate cross for another reason: The outside of our lives might look pretty, but we can be tragically empty. Occasionally, the reality of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and the power of his love break through our hardened hearts. The realization causes us to gasp. The hollow parts of our souls can be filled.

S H O W M E T HE S U F F E R IN G O F T HE M O S T M I S E R A B L E
Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people’s plight.
Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.
Help me to take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.
Give me honesty and patience;
So that I can work with other workers.
Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.
Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.
Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.
Amen.
—César Chávez (USA/1927–1993)

“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”—Psalm 51:17

“Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!” Deuteronomy 1:21, NLT

Recently, we received a question from a reader asking why the translation team for the New Living Translation chose to use the word occupy instead of possess. Here is the answer from our Bible editorial team.

This is a very interesting question. In comparison to the handful of other English Bible translation I checked, “occupy” appears to be a unique translation of the underlying Hebrew word, yarash, by the NLT translators at Deut 1:21 (and elsewhere). The Hebrew dictionaries I referenced indicate a range of possible English translations for this word, for example “to seize, dispossess, take possession of, inherit, disinherit, occupy, impoverish, be an heir,” depending on context. One note on “occupy” from the NLT Study Bible at Deut 1:8 could also be helpful to us: “The land was already Israel’s because God had promised it to the nation’s ancestors centuries earlier. . . . Israel was not seizing new territory from its rightful owners but was taking possession of land occupied by squatters.” From this, I think we can assume the NLT translation team felt that “possess” and “occupy” are really close synonyms. In terms of the range of meaning of the English words, per M-W.com, definition 3a of occupy is “to take or hold possession or control of” and the example provided is in a military context. It seems like English translations that employ possess are taking advantage of M-W.com definition 2a of that word, which means “to seize and take control of.”

In light of all this, my best guess would be that the NLT translators wanted to make sure the English readers understood the nuance of not only ownership (because Israel already owned this land whether they were living in it or not) but also the importance of them physically living in the land, thus occupying it. One important thing to note about the NLT translators is that they place a very high value on making sure that their translation communicates whole ideas to contemporary, American English speakers in terms they understand well. For English usage today, I think “occupy” has strong military associations (I think of “troops occupying the West Bank” and other similar examples), so it would bring the military aspect of the conquest to the forefront in the mind of the reader. It seems like “take possession of” could sound archaic, or even a bit vague, to the ear of modern English readers, or it doesn’t quite fully convey the military context of the Bible’s use of yarash.

Learn more about the New Living Translation.