Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
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 has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.

| Sparre Home Page |  Daily Reading Guide  |  2011 Devotion Archives  |  2010 Devotion Archives  |
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2 June 11
            Hello, dear people.
            Once again, the day spun away before I was entirely ready for it.  I hope it went well for you.  It occurs to me that I never left the property today…except to do my morning jog.  We considered doing some shopping this eve…but neither of us feel very eager to do so.  It would be nice to hit the hay early.
            Our world is in trouble.  Keep looking up.
                        Blessings. Love, Dad/Ray
 
2 June 2011
Psalm 31
Focus: “In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.”  Psalm 31:1.
            Let’s give some attention to the topic of SHAME.  Without consulting other sources, I’m going to simply shoot from the hip and suggest that SHAME is not necessarily a bad thing.  The quality of SHAME is determined by the quality of the “shamer” and the “shamee.”  For example, if the one inflicting SHAME (the “shamer”) is shamefully wrong (wrong by God’s standards) in their values and perspective, and the recipient of that condemnation (the “shamee”) is right (righteous by God’s standards), the “shamee” has no good reason to feel ashamed of that SHAME.
            One idea coming to me as I give it further thought is this: It is impossible to live in a SHAME VACUUM—an environment or lifestyle void of SHAME. SHAME is going to get you, no matter who you are or where you are.  So the question is: Which kind of SHAME do you choose?  To put it another way—if the WORLD (the set of values embraced by people indifferent to or opposed to God) says, “Shame on you!” that’s really no big deal.  But if the Sovereign of the Universe says, “Shame on you!” THAT IS A VERY BIG DEAL!  (See James 4:4-12) 
            To be sure, SHAME is a powerful social controlling agent.  It is no surprise that the WORLD would exploit and manipulate its members by that means. But what strikes me as particularly shameful is to behold a similar SHAME strategy exercised within some churches that presume to represent God’s standards.  I’m reminded of how much I struggled when we returned to the USA from Vanuatu surrounding Thano’s head injury.  Resigning from the mission put us more into a laymen’s class and I became a normal guy visiting churches in our area to see where we would want to settle in.  I was going flat out and there was a huge amount of stress with the course we chosen to become self-employed, and I looked to our church attendance as a source for spiritual inspiration and encouragement.  Too often, however, I felt more beat up by the preaching and haranguing of some who wielded the Word as a SHAME hammer—“If you were real Spirit-filled turned-on believers you would be more involved in our program, attending every service and function—you would pray more, witness more, give more, be at these altars more, or be more demonstrative in worship!”
When David says, “Let me never be put to shame,” I don’t think he is so much concerned with SHAME before men—which is unavoidable—but with SHAME before his LORD.  And that’s consistent with the passage in Hebrews 12:2 that we recently quoted where Jesus, “for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its SHAME.”  It’s also consistent with one of the most famous Gospel songs known today—“The Old Rugged Cross”—“On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and SHAME…To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its SHAME and reproach gladly bear…”
There is no SHAME in this SHAME.  But the perverse opposite is shameful SHAME—described by Paul in Philippians 3:18-19: “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their SHAME.”
 
“Who has no shame before men, has no fear of God.”  -  Yiddish proverb