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 |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
29 Mar 11
Good rainy morning, dear ones…
…at least it’s raining here. That kind of cramps our style some as so much of our work is out of doors. Oh well. And to make life delightfully taxing, we have two little boys here as well.
I have lots of work pending. It sure calls on a lot of work even to get work to pend. Right after sending this I need to send off a revised estimate for manufacturing and installing siding on a new house. We’ll see how that plays out.
Have a great day. Blessings. Love, Dad/Ray
29 March 2011
Proverbs 29
Focus: “If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.” Proverbs 29:12.
We have no trouble compiling evidence and support for this principle of government. History keeps repeating itself. We see a lot of this kind of thing playing out in the political arena of our own nation at present. A related expression is verse 2 of this same chapter: “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” Sadly, I hear groaning all around me.
Allow me to go beyond this big-picture approach and zoom in on the small-picture view of your life and mine. We have grappled with this approach before—let’s do it again for the sake of confirmation—YOU TOO ARE A RULER. You and I rule over the campus of our own lives. And what we believe as TRUTH has great influence over the entire scope of our management, choices, attitudes, and behavior.
Listen again to verse 16 of this chapter—and see if it applies to this approach. “When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall.” When one’s NATURAL SIN NATURE reigns, you don’t have to wonder about the result—sin, corruption, and destruction are inevitable.
Let’s take another look at Romans 6—and I’ll stick in a bit of my own related commentary. “…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God (This is TRUTH for the believer—and failure for the believer to embrace this TRUTH is to LISTEN TO LIES). Therefore do not let sin reign (Rule) in your mortal body (among your officials—the subjects of your rule) so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body (officials) to sin, as instruments of wickedness (unrighteousness), but rather offer yourselves to God (The Sovereign Ruler to Whom all other rulers are accountable), as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:11-13).
“Sin is first pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed;
then the man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to repent,
and then he is ruined.” - Robert Leighton