Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

The way things are looking, I’m not going to get to do my jog. I really slept in. Didn’t rise till 6am.

The fishing excursion on Saturday only yielded 3 fish. I put my entire portion of fish in the smoker last night, and took it out this morning. It’s sure good. But it’s pretty expensive smoked salmon.

A lady that was a regular avid attendee of our Gospel Sing sessions at Pheasant Pointe recently passed away. We’ve been asked by the family to participate in her memorial today. So that’s on our list for the day…along with a lot of other stuff. Speaking of stuff, the family is wanting me to sing my STUFF SONG that this lady loved and requested often. That may be a rather strange addition to a memorial service, but the son reasons that he would like it to be a happy time that his mother would enjoy. Why not?

Have a good day today. Love, Dad/Ray.

Once again, we have a huge amount of inspirational material to process in this short reading. For now the word “captive” captivates my attention. If Biblical revelation is TRUE, whether we like it or not, we all enter life as captives to “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” That’s simply a natural consequence of THE FALL which deposits into the DNA of the entire human race a SIN NATURE. The GOSPEL proclaims, however, that we are not required to remain in that condition—that we can respond positively to God’s gracious love Gift and be BORN AGAIN—transformed by the Divine Nature (John 1:12; 2 Peter 1:3-4). And that’s why the GOSPEL is such GOOD NEWS!

Remember the incident early in Jesus’ ministry where the scroll of Isaiah was handed to him on a Sabbath with the expectation to read and comment? Here is the passage He read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,(That’s us!) and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…” (Luke 4:18, KJV). Then He said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21, KJV).

We could make a list a mile long (…at least a kilometer) of supportive scriptures. I’ll just remind you of Jesus’ words in John 8:31 and 32: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Free from what? Free from the captivity of the NATURAL SIN NATURE. And without this break to freedom, our captivity remains.

Here’s how it works: MAN’S WORDS AND IDEAS PERPETUATE DECEPTION AND CAPTIVITY. GOD’S WORD OFFERS TRUTH AND FREEDOM.