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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6 Aug 10
            Good morning, dear people.
            It’s 7:25am.  I think I have 3 dogs out there…waiting and teasing to do a jog.  After sending this, I guess I’ll go oblige them.
            I’m not sure how this day will go.  But I’m sure it will go. Another round of adventure.  No room for boredom.
            Be wise.  Be blessed.
                        You are loved.  Dad/Ray
 
6 August 2010
Passage: 2 Corinthians 13
Focus: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” 2 Corinthians 13:5.
            Do you agree with the strategy of the Creator in His design for human progeny?  As a general rule, people begin their existence as dependent babies under the oversight, care, and training of parents.  Parents are assigned the responsibility to properly nurture, discipline, and train their children while they are young and formable so that those children can learn to properly nurture, discipline, and train themselves when they move into independent adulthood—prepared to repeat that cycle with children of their own.  Solomon states the strategy this way: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
            When a person is a child, the parents do the training, examining, and testing for them.  When that person is a mature adult, he is to do that for himself.  When a person is a young Christian, the Word of God, the Lordship of Christ, along with mature Christian leaders all lend training, examining, and testing so that that person can grow into maturity and do those things for himself.
            Can you think of anything more important for a mature Christian than to KNOW they are in the faith?—in right relationship with their Sovereign?  This involves knowing how to examine and test oneself against the criteria of the Word of God.  I could get carried away with a huge list of scripture passages to use as a standard for measurement.  But I’ll let you do that for yourself.  Please do it for yourself!  PLEASE!
 
            “Not all Bible promises carry an unconditional guarantee.”