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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28 Oct 10
            Greetings, dear special people.
            Among a lot of other things, I’ve already done another one of those Kaden-on-my-shoulders-under-an-umbrella-walk-in-the-rain excursions.
            Lots on the list today.  Better keep moving.
            You are loved…and prayed for.
                        Dad/Ray
 
28 October 2010
Passage: John 3:1-21
Focus: “How can this be?” John 3:9.
            I can identify with Nicodemas’ question and exclamation.  My mind seems to ask that question very often about lots of things.  How do birds and fish know when and where to migrate? How does a spider spin a web and know how and where to place it?  How does the digestive track in my own body know how to process food and distribute nutrition to where it needs to go?  How does this computer work?  How can multiple 2-way conversations and transmissions of data pass through one little wire?—or without a wire?  I could go on and on.  In spite of my inability to comprehend so many things, I will not reject their reality.  I’m quite happy to eat my breakfast fruit salad and exercise the power of this computer even though I don’t perfectly understand how it all works.
            I don’t know if this is true or not, but I have heard of the existence of a group calling themselves THE FLAT EARTH SOCIETY.  In rejection of all the scientific knowledge available today, they apparently still insist that the earth is flat.  If this is true—that there is such a group—I want to exclaim again, “How can this be?!?”
            That is no more foolish than the person who rejects the reality and need of the NEW BIRTH on the basis of it sounding too strange or it not being compatible with their background experience and mindset.  I recommend that we respond to this concept the same way we do our computers or our digestion—that we accept it and use it and be benefitted by it to the full.
            There’s a very encouraging piece of good news resident in John 19:39.  It implies that Nicodemas went on to become a genuine BORN AGAIN believer.  He wisely did not reject what he could not perfectly comprehend.
 
“In heaven, God will reveal
what on earth He chose to conceal.”