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 Sept 10
            Greetings to you, dear ones.
            When I send this, I’ll head out for a little jog with the dogs…under an overcast sky.
            Wow! Can you believe how fast the summer has evaporated!  Man—it’s nearly Christmas already!  Time flies when you’re having fun…even when you’re not.
            May your day be blessed.
                        Love, Dad/Ray
 
23 September 2010
Passage: Colossians 3:1-4:1
Focus: “…old self…new self…renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  Colossians 3:9-10.
            Every kid likes a new toy.  I guess I’m no exception—I like new stuff too.  But life and experience has taught me that there is a down-side to this persistent human hang-up.  New stuff that is used simply does not remain new stuff.  Nor does the new excitement that goes with the new stuff remain new excitement for very long.  This can apply to a new doll, a new toy truck, a new bike, a new car, a new girlfriend, a new marriage, and even a new faith or conversion experience.  The best we can do in view of this built-in degeneration problem is to maintain what is valuable and desirable in a condition as close to new as possible.
            Let me quote here verses 9 and 10 of our reading to set the context clearly before us.  “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your OLD SELF with its practices and have put on the NEW SELF, which is being RENEWED in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  I’ve capitalized what I judge to be key words.  Do you get the point?  The NEW SELF, left to itself, will naturally run down and wear out just like any other self.  But since the Creator of the NEW SELF is God Who is supernatural and Who does not run down or wear out, he offers a kind of miraculous maintenance program to those who will continually set their minds on things above (3:2) and “grow in grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18) through His inexhaustible Living Word.  So in summary, it is not enough to simply replace the OLD with the NEW; the NEW must constantly be RENEWED.
            Think about it.  Are you following the formula?
 
            “RENEWAL is the Life of Christ poured into human hearts.”