Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
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 has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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21 Mar 11
Good evening, dear folk.
I think I’m losing it. I thought I had sent this off this morning. But checking things out this evening after a rather complicated day, I realize I not only didn’t send it, I didn’t finish it. Oh well. Here goes.
My bald head wants to go get in contact a pillow with the lights out now…so, good night. Blessings.
Love, Dad/Ray
21 March 2011
Proverbs 21
Focus: “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.” Proverbs 21:21.
Wouldn’t you agree that we have here a very good description of true happiness contained in the terms LIFE, PROSPERITY, AND HONOR? Oh sure, it’s possible to feel or display happiness without having these desirable qualities—as when someone is drunk or high on drugs—but that’s more of a stupid happy—and it sure doesn’t last long.
Ok, class, how many of you want to be happy—truly happy? Interesting. Everyone has their hand up. That being the case, I guess my next question is kind of redundant. Nevertheless, I’ll ask it anyway: How many of you want to be unhappy, discouraged, and depressed? Sure enough—no hands are up on that one. I think we can take this as pretty sound support for the thesis that EVERYONE WANTS TO BE HAPPY.
But we have a big popular blind spot that seems to be going on all around us. Real human experience would seem to support another important thesis: HAPPINESS CANNOT BE ACHIEVED BY PURSUING IT. There is no compelling evidence that a person can become truly happy simply by trying to be truly happy. The achievement of happiness by pursuing happiness is as futile as catching a rainbow by chasing one. However there is an abundance of compelling support for another thesis: HAPPINESS IS THE BY-PRODUCT OF PURSUING RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE. Once again, if we understand that RIGHTEOUSNESS in its proper form is essentially right relationship with God by the medium of right response to His Word—and if we understand that LOVE is essentially the heart-level application of the two greatest commands of scripture to LOVE God and the LOVE others by the medium of close relationship with Him, we have here the fundamental road map to happiness.
So there you have it! “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.”
“Happiness is the natural flower of duty.” - Phillips Brooks