Insightful Musings on theScriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Hello, dear special people.
When I rose about 4:15am, there was evidence of a full moon shining in from a skylight. So hopefully we will meet with a nice clear morning when Becki and I go out for our walk/jog. It’s cold though…I’m sure we’ll meet frost and ice on the puddles.
A topic for discussion on our walk/jog: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THE REST OF OUR LIVES? I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I’m sure you have it all figured out…right? O the adventure of it all!
May your day be blessed. Love, Dad/Ray
8 January
Passage: Matthew 6:19-7:6
Focus: “If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22.
I am going to suggest that Jesus is giving us a general recipe for doing life with joy and optimism. The alternative is a recipe for depression. Let’s look again at verses 22 and 23. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Here’s my spin: Your worldview perspective determines the quality of your life. If you are able to recognize with your internal eyes the greatness, goodness, majesty, and grace of the awesome God of the Bible, then every other part of your life will be positively influenced and invigorated by that view. But if your perspective sees no order or design or purpose, the result can only be self-centeredness, confusion, and meaninglessness, which is an appropriate way to define depression.
Does it require any difficult or complicated reasoning to figure out which approach is superior? I don’t think so!
I realize I may be overly repetitious, but I don’t want to sign off before directing attention to verse 33 of chapter 6 once again, which I believe is the bottom-line key to this “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7). Indeed it is key to doing life. That’s why I refer to it often. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
"All the good maxims already exist in the world; we just fail to apply them."
~ Blaise Pascal ~
~ Blaise Pascal ~