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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21 Sept 10
            Good morning, dear ones.
            Did you catch my OOPS of yesterday?  I mistakenly called yesterday the 19th when it was really the 20th.
            Looks like a pretty nice day out there from here.  I better get on with using it.
                        Blessings. Love.  Dad/Ray.
 
21 September 2010
Passage: Colossians 1:24-2:5
Focus: “…the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  Colossians 1:27.
            I sure don’t have to look far to find mysteries—things I know are real, but are way beyond my comprehension as to HOW and WHY they are real.  Take something so commonplace as life itself, for example.  Does anyone really understand fully HOW a mixture of water and rock (minerals…you know, like “the dust of the earth”) can be infused with this mysterious something-or-other that makes it live?  This reality is so incredibly mysterious that “smarty pants” scientists CANNOT reproduce on purpose, try as they will, what they claim “nature” has produced by accident!  And WHY anyone would choose to be so dull or blind as to not recognize this fact is a mystery in itself!
            Let me hassle your thinking further by asking you (or anyone, for that matter) WHY and HOW the atom works?  Science has helped us to understand a little—that electrons, protons, and neutrons orbit a nucleus—but HOW and WHY?  What makes it work?  There has to be something going on there that transcends physicality.
            May I suggest that the best beginning point for answering these kinds of questions is tucked away in our “FOCUS” verse of yesterday: “…all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17)?  And do you remember that just before that verse, we read, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…” (1:16)?  So may I also suggest that we are touching on a CORE FACT of the tangible visible world around us—that it is, in TRUTH, the very intangible invisible SPIRIT OF GOD (Christ) that makes it all HOLD TOGETHER!? There is no way we can absolutely prove this FACT scientifically—but HOW CAN IT BE OTHERWISE?!
            Can you see where I’m going with this?  You don’t have to fully understand the mystery of life in order to be alive.  You don’t have to fully understand the mystery of atoms to made of them and participate with them.  And you don’t have to fully understand the mystery of being spiritually “born again” and being filled with a measure of the Spirit of Christ in order to participate in this wonderful and essential provision by an awesome loving God!  The important thing to know is that IT WORKS?  Paul testifies that this real spiritual “energy” of Christ “powerfully works in me” (1:29).
            Please, by all means, let us respond the RIGHT way to “this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  It’s our ONLY HOPE!
 
            “The business of faith is to believe things that are out of sight.”