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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30 May 10
Good evening, dear ones.
Whew! It's been a pretty full day. I was up early to
prepare for a speaking engagement at a local church, after the service
it was lunch, then I got in a brief nap before our Gospel Sing time at
an assisted living session at 3pm, then a potluch with friends at 4pm,
and didn't return home till about 7:30pm.
I'm glad that a holiday is slated for tomorrow. Maybe we can catch up on a few things.
Being Memorial Day tomorrow, I feel kind of privileged to have in our
gathering a couple men who served in WWII. There aren't many
left, you know. Rodger was a pilot who flew amphibious PBYs and
performed sea rescues in the Mediterranean. One plane he flew was
shot up and sunk by German fighter planes. He was left afloat for
some time before being rescued. At one point, before his rescue,
a German fighter strafed him with machine gun fire, yet he survived,
with only one finger shot off. It doesn't require much effort on
my part to want to honor men like that.
Good night. My head is fast shutting down. I think I'll head for bed.
Love, Dad/Ray
30 May 2010
Passage: Luke 9:1-17
Focus: “You give them something to eat.” Luke 9:13.
Here’s the backdrop for these words from Jesus to His disciples: “Late
in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away
so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find
food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here. He
replied, ‘You give them something to eat.’”
Wow! That’s a tall order! Verse 14 indicates that there
were about 5,000 men in that crowd. Jesus was actually telling
his disciples to do what they could not possibly do on their own.
There’s no way that five little hunks of bread and two little fish were
going to feed this gang. The only way that could possibly happen would
be to partner with the One with the power to make it happen. They did
their part, and Jesus (God) did the rest. We have here another
confirmation of the over-arching principle that goes something like
this: IF YOU WILL DO WHAT YOU CAN DO IN RESPONSE GOD’S WORD, HE WILL
STEP IN TO DO WHAT YOU CANNOT DO. You know the story.
Everyone was fed to the full…with way more leftovers than what they
began with.
Earlier in the chapter, Jesus sent His disciples out on a preaching
campaign and instructed them to also do what they could not do—heal the
sick. No way could they miraculously heal anyone on their
own. The only way that could happen would be to partner with the
One with that kind of power.
It occurs to me that this principle even applies to the universal human
need for salvation—eternal life. (Goodness! I can’t figure
out how to manage and preserve my own physical life, let alone my
metaphysical life.) I am wise to recognize that I, on my own,
can’t save anyone, let alone me. The only way that could possibly
happen would be to partner with the One with that kind of saving power.
I think this is another good place to quote John 3:16.
“There is none so good that they can save themselves—none so bad that
God cannot save them.”