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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8 June 10
            Good afternoon, dear ones.
            It has been nice this morning…but now clouds are rolling in again and looking a little like they might be right about rain hitting us again.  That creek is still ripping.  I wonder what summer is going to be like.
            Lots yet to do at 3:44pm.  I guess this is one of the benefits to being self-employed.  How many people can be doing something like this during prime work time?  Once I press the send button, I’ll get back to the grind.
            Keep looking up.  Looking elsewhere can get pretty gloomy.
            Love and prayers, Dad/Ray
           
 
8 June 2010
Passage: Luke 12:22-48
Focus: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.”  Luke 12:35.
            There is a huge amount of inspiration and guidance that can be gleaned from this passage.  I could get carried away.  But I’ll try to hold my “focus” to this one phrase.  (I hope you read the passage.)
            A very good place to draw some practical meaning from this idea of being “dressed ready for service” is Ephesians 6.  That’s where Paul presents the required apparel of the Christian soldier.  They are truth (true thinking that flows from God’s Word), righteousness (right relationship with God), training (knowing what you believe and why), faith (believing God enough to obey Him), salvation (the composite result of all the above), and “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:10-18)…our only means of both defense and offense.
            We could quote Psalm 119:105 to mix in some amplification of “your lamps burning.”  It goes, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”  Without the illumination of His Word, we are indeed walking in the dark.  But with it, being infilled and enlightened by it, we actually become a special kind of light in this dark world. Make no mistake about it.  That is God’s intent for your role and function.  In the process, you’re not going to “win them all,” but you can “let your little light shine.”  Read again Matthew 5:13-16.
            Do you see in this the all-encompassing importance of God’s Word?  So why would we ever think we could fare well without it?
 
            “God’s Word is like a highway sign.  You don’t have to pay any attention to it if you don’t care what happens to you.”