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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10 April 11
Good morning, special ones.
Oh wow!...Sunday School begins at 9:30am. I need to hurry. Kaden and I did our little jog this morning already. He and Nicholas will be going to SS and church with us.
Blessings on your day.
Love, Dad/Ray
10 April 2011
Proverbs 10
Focus: “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.” Proverbs 10:20.
We humans are constantly involved with value judgments. As I sit here and contemplate this, it’s easy to see that the value judgments we use in buying and selling are quite foundational to our entire economy. Every time I have the radio on, I hear stock market reports (that I don’t really understand) and just yesterday I heard that the value of silver is rapidly rising. Even something as commonplace as visiting a store causes us to measure comparative values—“Is this product worth the price tag?” And when we want to consider selling something, it’s always important to establish a reasonable value. So “What is your house worth?” or “What is your car worth?” are good questions to ask before trying to sell them. But here is an important question on value you may have never heard before: WHAT IS YOUR TONGUE WORTH?
We are, of course, making reference to the FOCUS VERSE and the metaphorical symbolism it presents. And the focus of meaning has to do with the worth of the expressions of thoughts and ideas that the TONGUE is used to audibly formulate and express. Notice again that it functions just like Jesus said it does—in fact, the context of Jesus’ words is quite in harmony with the FOCUS VERSE where He is expounding before a gang of antagonistic Pharisees. Let’s review it: “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth (TONGUE) speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him” (Matthew 12:33-35).
The challenge the LORD gave to Joshua at the outset of his role as Commander and Chief of Israel comes to mind and seems relevant. “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth (TONGUE); meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8)—and YOUR TONGUE WILL BE LIKE CHOICE SILVER—communicating valuable nuggets of truth, wisdom, and encouragement.
“Water and words—easy to pour, impossible to recover.”