Insightful Musings on the New Testament
by
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67

Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.

Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray is following, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010.

|  Daily Reading Guide  |  2010 Devotion Archives  |
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23 May 10
    Top of the morning to you, dear ones.
    6:59am.  It looks like some sun is trying to poke through the clouds.  I'll get this off and do a jog.  I've failed to do that for most of this week.
    Be blessed today.  "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. 91:1).  And that's not religion.
        Love, Dad/Ray
 
23 May 2010
Passage: Luke 6:1-16
Focus: “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  Luke 6:2.
            In the course of my meeting and talking with a broad range of people of late, there is a statement I make quite regularly: “You need religion about like you need another hole in your head…but you do need relationship with your Manufacturer.”  I don’t know if that resonates with you like it does with me.  I think it becomes particularly meaningful when we offer the definitions I intend to the key words.  (1) Religion: Man-made.  The attempt of a sinful man to reach a Holy God.  (2) Relationship: God-made.  The gracious demonstration of a Holy God to reach out to a sinful man, allowing access and fellowship.
            In the passage before us, we have a couple more examples of the ugly and destitute nature of religion without relationship.  Jesus is caught red-handed by the religious legalists allowing (by not getting upset) His disciples to eat some kernels of grain while walking through a field on the Sabbath—a serious violation of their religious laws.  I guess they judged that as work by harvesting.  On another occasion, Jesus had the audacity to release the miracle power of God to heal a man on the Sabbath.  Oh, how terrible!  Their ugly cold hearts are indicated when it says, “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking of a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath” (6:7).  It wasn’t a matter of “could he?” but “would he?”  Sure enough He did.  So, did they praise God for this wonderful miraculous gift of healing granted to this man?  Not a chance.  Religion doesn’t behave that way.  Instead it says, “But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus” (6:11).  Nice people.  Very religious.
            Between the two options, which do YOU choose? 
 
            “Life’s greatest tragedy is to lose God and never miss Him.”