01 January 2018
Good morning, dear ones, on this first day of the New Year.
I hope I don’t startle you—or scare you. But I have a notion to put in motion what I hope will not cause too much commotion—to attempt picking up again on the routine of composing a little daily devotional essay from the reading schedule we’ve used before—READ THROUGH THE NEW TESTAMENT IN A YEAR. And since your address was among those to receive those posts before we lay it aside to engage in our trip back to the Pacific Islands, I decided to simply start with that list and see what happens. Please understand, you are under no obligation here. If you would prefer to not be on this list, just let me know. No problem.
Just this morning, before doing my old man jog, Becki opened a package that arrived containing some copies of The Passion Translation Bibles. She gave me one. I think that translation offers a neat spin to the familiar account, and plan to use it regularly as a base version.
I had an interesting encounter while on my jog this morning—meeting and talking to a lady who seemed about as thirsty for “living water” as the woman at the well whom Jesus encountered in John 4. Her response was so heart-felt to the simple precepts of our Biblical faith that she spontaneously had to give me a hug over the wire fence that separated us. That has to be the first time I’ve ever been hugged by a stranger while doing my old man jog.
May the Lord add His blessing to your day—and the rest of this New Year.
Love, Ray Sparre.
I have not yet found anything “supernatural” about any of my dreams. Quite honestly, they are more like a form of un-natural twisted nonsense. I choose to believe that the limitations of my personal experience do not serve as the best standard to use in measuring the authenticity of the experiences of others—or, for that matter, in measuring TRUTH. Indeed the Biblical record highlights many cases where God interrupted the natural flow of sleep with profound supernatural visitations that bore specific revelations and instructions. Joseph’s experience amidst his difficult predicament is a case in point.
After all, what kind of a guy wouldn’t be struggling if they were in Joseph’s situation?! Here he is, planning to marry this nice upstanding young lady who is suddenly found to be pregnant—knowing that he had nothing to do with it! That had to be a tough one.
My hunch is that Joseph had a faithful heart after God. That means to me that the default setting of his inmost being was to cry out to his God amidst his crisis—not just “debating with himself,” or consulting others. He surely sensed his deep need for divine intervention and guidance. Very likely the visitation of the angel was in direct response to such seeking. May the Lord inspire each of us with the same mindset, so that the Lord may be free to intervene and direct our own paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Without attempting to extract all the good minerals and nutrients from this passage, let me simply point out that the “angel from the Lord” is putting forth before Joseph the very central and most essential theme of the entire Bible—and that is JESUS!—mankind’s only SAVIOR from their sins!
Perhaps this is a good reminder for starting out this new year on the right foot—maintaining the main thing as the main thing. And what is that? It’s the fundamental recognition that every one of us, everyone we meet, everyone we haven’t met, everyone in our families, everyone in our work places and schools—EVERYONE, whether they know it or not, are in desperate need of JESUS—their only SAVIOR from their sins.