Insightful Musings on the New Testament
by
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67

Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.

Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray is following, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010.

|  Daily Reading Guide  |  2010 Devotion Archives  |
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 20 June 10
            Dear ones.
            Yes…9:30am…Becki went out to start the car…with 3 grandkids aboard…on our way to our first Gospel Sing service of the day at Country Meadows in Woodburn.  Need to run.
            Have a great day.  Bless you fathers.
                                                          Love and prayers, Dad/Ray
 
20 June 2010
Passage: Luke 19:28-48
Focus: “…but now it is hidden from your eyes.”  Luke 19:42.
            I run the risk of being a kind of broken record, but I’d like to lace into this statement the essential of A HEART AFTER GOD.  I think it fits.
            Jesus pauses before entering Jerusalem and appears overwhelmed with emotion in His overview of the city.  Jesus wept.  “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (19:42).  One of the ideas I have here is this: If important things are hidden from the eyes of the closest disciples, how ?
            Just before this pause it says that “the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen” (19:37).  Get this—they were disciples.  So did they really get it?  Were they really understanding all that was transpiring? No.  They had made some wrong assumptions, thinking “that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once” (19:11).  Yes, they were caught up in the “Jesus movement.”  They enjoyed the fellowship of the group and the excitement of beholding miracle after miracle.  But there was still a lot of stuff HIDDEN FROM THEIR EYES. That fact is proven by the unfolding story.  They just didn’t get it.  But for those who were in possession of A HEART AFTER GOD, they made it through the setbacks and disappointments just fine.  But those who didn’t, didn’t.
            I’m convinced that A HEART AFTER GOD is the essential foundation of an essential faith.  And that kind of faith is what kicks in and carries us successfully through our own sojourn…even though we may not clearly foresee the future or even understand the significance of the present. There are a lot of details still hidden from our own eyes.  We still see “through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12).  But A HEART AFTER GOD that renders a vital faith says, “That’s quite OK.”
 
            “Exercise daily—walk with the Lord.”