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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26 July 10
                Greetings, dear people.
                It’s already 9:47pm…and I can hardly stay on this chair with my eyes open.  I need to catch up on sleep.  So, what am I doing here? I guess I’ll just launch this…and hit the hay.
                Love, Dad/Ray…and Happy Birthday to Katherine!  31.  Wow!
 
26 July 2010
Passage: 2 Corinthians 1:1-2:4
Focus: “…we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in holiness and sincerity that are from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:12.
                That’s what this confused world is really looking for—HOLINESS AND SINCERITY.  Clean and honest.  Faith that makes a difference. Faith that is vindicated by a track record of performance that inspires confidence and credibility.  The world is sick and tired of claims and testimonies of faith and holiness from lives that are unclean and insincere.  So am I.  So are you.  And so is God.
                It was about 1964 that I heard one of the most outstanding sermon messages of my life.  One reason it was so outstanding is that I still remember the basic points.  Two of the points went something like this: (1) God does not labor to change your circumstances as much as He labors to change you.  (2)  God is not as concerned with your doing as He is with your being.
                Paul has just reviewed some of his hard times of suffering as a representative of Christ.  And he reminds the Corinthian believers that they are in the same canoe with him.  He gives them, through it all, the high role model of conducting himself “in the HOLINESS AND SINCERITY that are from God….not according to worldly wisdom.”  That’s the only posture of life and faith that is of any value.  It becomes a focus on quality of attitudes rather than on the quantity of actions.  It prioritizes proper responses to circumstances rather than the comfort or discomfort of circumstances.  It recognizes that what we are communicates a message that is much louder than what we do or say.
 
                “Unholy living follows unbelieving thinking.”