Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
ATTACHMENT
Hi,
I decided to compose a few lines of communication to you in view of the fact that Becki will be accompanying your mom on an excursion to Pendleton for a visit. In spite of my not having done this before, you have been in my thoughts many times and I’ve prayed that the Lord would orchestrate guidance of your life into “paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake” (Psalm 23).
I have no interest in beating you on the head, but neither do I wish to waste time here with trivia. So I have in mind to drop on you a very simple crash course for doing life from my own spectrum of belief, conviction, and Biblical revelation. As I see it, these essentials do not only apply to you, but to every brain-functioning person on planet earth. Please consider carefully these ideas and see how they fit with all the evidence available.
Without spending a lot of time quoting Scripture, perhaps I will begin with a simple thesis: CREATOR GOD HAS EMBEDDED IN HUMAN BEINGS THE GIFT OF INTELLIGENCE (objective reasoning) AND FREE WILL WHICH HE INTENDS TO GUIDE THEM INTO FULFILLING THEIR PRIMARY PURPOSE—TO SEEK, SERVE, AND PLEASE CREATOR GOD BY CHOICE. In order to assist mankind at fulfilling this primary purpose, God has presented in no uncertain terms via Biblical revelation a primary guideline—“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-39).
Let’s imagine that this first and foremost command is like the first button on your shirt. If you don’t get the first button in the first slot, what happens? Obviously, all the other buttons will be out of place. It doesn’t matter how pretty the shirt is, who is wearing it, or how much it cost. And all attempts to correct the goof up will be absolutely futile until one goes back and gets the first button in the first slot. Duh!
Jesus stated essentially the same thing in Matthew 6:33—“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” That’s FIRST, not second, not fifth, not fourteenth—FIRST. The equation is simple…although not simple to achieve since we are all wired with a dirty Jeremiah 17:9 disposition as a result of original sin. I believe the basic concept Jesus is setting forth is that “all the complex pieces of life’s puzzle will never ever fit together properly without this fundamental heart attitude—TO SEEK, SERVE, AND PLEASE CREATOR GOD BY CHOICE. Please, make no mistake about it—this is the very purpose of our human existence.
Allow me to direct your attention to another Old Testament parallel concept—“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise” (Psalm 111:10). David’s son, Solomon, repeats the same essential—“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7).
Notice that this precept does NOT say that the fear of the Lord is the completion or the achievement of wisdom, but the BEGINNING—meaning that all other pursuits and exercises of human intelligence must be based on this essential idea in order to come out right. It can only mean that if a person does not FEAR THE LORD (which is another Biblical way of stating the same essential premise—TO SEEK, SERVE, AND PLEASE CREATOR GOD BY CHOICE) all they have left to work with is the beginning (or continuation) of STUPID—another way to define the choices of a “fool”—another way of describing our universal natural sin nature.
If you are paying attention, Daniel, to these precepts of Biblical truth and comparing them with the world around you, you should have no trouble recognizing that WISDOM (the godly use of human intelligence) is in short supply—that STUPID (foolishness, the ungodly use of human intelligence) is far more commonplace. (Read again Matthew 7:13-27.)
As you might imagine, I could carry on and on. I guess I’m guilty of allowing these ideas to become a passion for me. Quite honestly, I think they are supposed to be. And I earnestly invite you, Daniel, to join me in this passion. It doesn’t matter what the past includes, you and I are graciously given opportunity to get our first buttons in their first slots. TODAY IS ALWAYS THE FIRST DAY IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
May the Lord bless you and surprise you with gut-wrenching conviction and inspiration—not just for your sake—but also for the sake of those around you. Everyone, whether they know it or not, is grappling with the same stuff—the same shirt. Without any doubt, the Lord wants to make you to be LIGHT in a DARK place. So be it.
Love and prayers,
Ray Sparre
Homework: Please memorize Romans 11:36-12:2 and Psalm 1.