2007 picture of Ray SparreInsightful 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  |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Ray with grandson Kaden under the umbrella10 Oct 10
            Dear special people.
            Are you catching the fact that today’s date is a unique combination of numbers?—10-10-10.  Next year we will be able to write 11-11-11, the following year 12-12-12.  But after that—and on through the rest of the century—we’ll never be able to have another date of matched numbers.  Whatever.  Who cares?  We can’t be sure we’ll be here for any of it anyway.
            I’m not sure I’ll have time for a jog this morning.  Yesterday morning it was raining too…but I went out for a fast walk under an umbrella with little Kaden (grandson) on my shoulders.  On the route, I picked up a few more empty beer cans—which I collect and give to a friend who cashes them in for BGMC (Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade).  At one point, I had Kaden carrying one of the cans while riding on my shoulders.  I wonder if any passersby thought Kaden was a drunken driver?
            Have a great day.  Keep your feeble arms and weak knees as strong as possible.
                        Love. Dad/Ray
 
 
10 October 2010
Passage: Hebrews 12:1-13
Focus: “’Make level paths for your feet’, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”  Hebrews 12:13.
            An overview of this reading leads me to underscore the fact that, whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not, WE ARE IN A RACE.  It’s not some optional recreational event, but an ongoing struggle against sin, self, and Satan—to the finish line of eternal life.  Far too many never finish the course.  “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.  ‘Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”  Do you see the implied importance of daily devotions in this exhortation? I hope you do.
            There is a lot of preaching that could be done from this little passage.  But for now I wish to raise a pair of short  simple questions:  (1) Who are the LAME?  (2) Who are the HEALED?  May I suggest that the LAME represent all of us before Christ.  The HEALED are all of us after Christ.  Sin is a universal condition that leaves us all quite LAME in doing the will of God that leads to Life.  If the condition is not diagnosed, treated, and HEALED, it can only lead to DISABLEMENT.  Praise God for the healing power of Christ.
            I am convinced that it is primarily this kind of healing that is prophesied by Isaiah: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are HEALED.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
 
            “Keep out of your life all that will keep Christ out of your mind.”