2013 picture of Ray Sparre

Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67



June 29, 2014

Good morning, dear ones.

I greet you this morning from the Comfort Suites Hotel in Moses Lake, WA. We’ll be on the road again toward home soon. Looks like a nice day for a drive. I just decided to make use of the hotel Wi-Fi resource and send this out before hitting the road. Good to see a lot of family and friends last evening surrounding the wedding of Taylor and Nick.

Have a great day. Love, Dad/Ray.

PS... 6:24pm: For some reason the internet connection at the hotel didn’t transmit this message this morning…so I’m doing it now from home. Our return trip went well…and our arrival home allowed for little more time than to load up and run off to our 3pm Gospel Sing time at Pheasant Pointe.


29 June (revised 2010 Composition)
Passage: Luke 24:13-35
Focus: "How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Luke 24:25.

I’m sure you have noticed that whenever someone visits the clinic or hospital, one of the first things the tending nurses will do is check the pulse. The pulse rate is, of course, a measurement of how many times the heart beats in one minute as it pumps blood through the body. It is a very important indication of the health of the patient. If the pulse is too slow or too fast, it will give meaning to the doctor in diagnosing the condition along with prescription and treatment.

It did not take “Doctor Jesus” very long to notice an unhealthy spiritual and intellectual pulse in the two disciples that He met on the road to Emmaus that day. After listening to their brief description of their sick condition, Jesus exclaims to them, “How foolish you are, and how SLOW OF HEART to believe all the prophets have spoken!” And He began to administer the medicine of the Word.

Let me call to your attention to the fact that you and I are incapable of actually controlling the pulse of our physical hearts. It is an automatic physiological miracle that God has established in our living bodies. But we are given a large measure of responsibility over our psycho-spiritual pulse. Notice that Jesus pinpoints the main cause of their unhealthy condition. He says, in so many words, “You fellows have not been eating right, which allows your disappointments and anxieties to give you indigestion along with an unhealthy pulse.” What is the implied remedy for this very common ailment? KNOW GOD’S WORD AND BELIEVE IT. It will prevent us from developing this faith debilitating condition—SLOW OF HEART.

“We don’t change God’s message—His message changes us.”