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.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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22 Dec 11
Good morning, dear people.
It really is a beautiful morning here—clear and cold. I did a frosty jog earlier. But it’s late. I’m still in my jog togs. I tend to get too carried away talking and preaching. I do need to get some urgent work done.
I wouldn’t mind getting some feedback from you. I’m not sure what to do as we anticipate the new year and the new month. Two ideas are to (1) discontinue, or (2) shift over to a one-year run through the New Testament again—perhaps doing a bunch of repeats of what I did two years ago. In the event that I’m making you weary of these emails you can suggest #1 or that your name be removed. No problem. In the event that you’d like to carry on with a New Testament cruise, please let me know that too.
Be blessed. Merry Christmas. Love, Dad/Ray.
22 December 2011
Proverbs 22
Focus: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6.
Notice that this instruction to instructors does not say, “Train a child in the way he CAN go”—but “SHOULD go.” It only makes sense to me that if someone is going to guide someone else in the WAY they SHOULD go, the instructor should have a pretty good idea of what that WAY is. But alas!—we are surrounded by a popular wishy-washy secular “open-minded” approach to parental training held by those who don’t really have a clue as to WHO they are, WHERE they came from, WHY they are here, and WHERE they are going. To spin that orientation into the FOCUS VERSE, it could go something like this: “Train a child by showing all the options and roads of life available, then when he is old he can make up his own mind which one(s) he prefers for perpetuating his own version of emptiness and meaninglessness.”
Thomas was the first to respond when Jesus made that special announcement to His disciples in John 14—“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:1-4). Thomas could just as appropriately have said, “We don’t even know where we are going, so how can we know where You are going or the way to get there?” It is at that point that Jesus makes the most dynamic claim that any leader could ever make—“I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. No one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:6). Wow! That claim is either a big bunch of #$%&*, or they are “Wonderful Words of Life”—the most vital compass heading anyone could ever find for navigating life and finding and maintaining “the way he should go.”
The main ideas that I see in this exchange between Jesus and His disciples are that (1) the WAY we SHOULD go is not just an ideology or religious system—it is the PERSON of Jesus Christ, and (2) Jesus Christ, Who is one with the Father, is both the GOAL and the MEANS to that GOAL.
Our children, most definitely, are going somewhere. My Biblical understanding agrees that without Christ as their LORD, they are going nowhere good. Just make sure He is YOUR LORD, then the way you should go with your parental influence should be obvious as you instruct your children in the way they should go.
“Show me a country, a company, or an organization that is doing well and I’ll show you a good leader.” - Joseph E. Brooks