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  |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 Oct 10
            Good morning, fellow frazzled family and friends.
            OK…maybe you’re not frazzled this morning.  But the pressures of life with the volume of the mundane can easily push us into that mode.  That’s why it’s so important to take preventive action and maintain internal control over what we can control.
            It’s overcast out there…but the leaves on the maples are brightening up the view…yellow, orange, red.  What if God had no interest in color? What if…  Anyway, I better get on with my jog…and the rest of the morning which includes our hosting a Gospel Sing at Country Meadows in Woodburn—a senior assisted living home.
            Be blessed…so you can be a blessing.
                        Love, Dad/Ray
 
3 October 2010
Passage: Hebrews 8
Focus: “The ministry Jesus has received…is superior to the old one.” Hebrews 8:6.
            It’s hard for me to imagine going back to using an old typewriter again—not after becoming acquainted with this computer.  Electronic and Cyber mail via the internet is pushing the former use of the postal and landline telephone systems to the brink of obsolete.  I remember my first acquisition and use of a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite system) in Vanuatu.  Wow! What a leap ahead—out-stripping the old-fashioned methods of navigation!  The list of examples could go on and on.  Modern technology certainly has a way of making old things obsolete.
            The word “obsolete” is found in our reading—describing the superiority of the NEW covenant under Christ as compared with the OLD covenant under Moses.  “He (Christ) has made the first one OBSOLETE” (8:13).
            I run the risk of being repetitious, but I’d like to draw your attention once again to Colossians 1:27 because it so well represents the superiority of the NEW covenant of Christ.  The OLD was characterized by an emphasis on the external observance of laws, codes, and sacrifices for sins. But the NEW is largely internal with the emphasis being “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  It makes possible the OLD prophecy quoted here, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts” (8:10).  To walk in this newness of life is our only means to living free from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh (Romans 6:4; Galatians 5:16).
            Let’s not even think about returning to the OLD notion that we can be saved or made right by means of religious legalism.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).  It is good NEW Testament advice to PRACTICE HIS PRESENCE.  That is, in fact, the NEW Testament in action.
 
            “Jesus has invested His life in you.  Have you shown any interest?”