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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6 Oct 10
Greetings in the morning, dear ones.
I hit the bed about 8pm last night. I think I’m getting old. That
sawmill work can wear a body out…especially when it calls for manually
handling wet 6”x12”x17’s. I won’t return to that mill job till
Thursday. Today it’s sign work…including vinyl graphics on the cab
doors of a dump truck. That’s definitely lighter work.
May your day go the way it should. Keep praising.
Love, Dad/Ray
6 October 2010
Passage: Hebrews 10:1-18
Focus: “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins…” Hebrews 10:3.
Speaking
of the Old Testament sacrificial system, verses 3 and 4 state, “those
sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for
the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” An annual reminder is
certainly not a bad thing—especially when the reminder reminds people
of an important reality that needs to be remembered—even if the
remembering is not pleasant. The text is underscoring the fact of the
insufficiency of the OLD system as compared with the all-sufficiency of
the NEW system established by Christ where He Himself becomes not only
the Eternal High Priest, but the ONCE-FOR-ALL Sacrifice.
Coming to think of it, our two most popular Christian holidays
(holy-days), Christmas and Easter, are really ANNUAL REMINDERS OF
SINS—or did we forget? I know our popular worldly environment wants to
forget. As is the case with so many other holidays, popular thought
does not well remember original intention. But think about it. The
sin problem of man really is at the core of the Christmas story. Isn’t
that what the angels announced to the shepherds? “Today in the town of
David a SAVIOR has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke
2:11). A SAVIOR from what? A SAVIOR from sin—of course. And in the
announcement to Joseph, the angel said, “She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will SAVE HIS PEOPLE
FROM THEIR SINS” (Matthew 1:21). Then the Easter story is clearly the
New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament lamb sacrifice for
sins. Jesus Christ is the “Lamb of God, who takes away the SIN of the
world” (John 1:29, 35). I suppose it could be said that the sacrifice
of Christ would have been just another sacrifice in the chain had it
not been for the resurrection where He showed Himself to be triumphant
over sin and death. “Therefore he is able to save completely those who
come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them”
(Hebrews 7:25). Let us be reminded that He came to be our SAVIOR FROM
SINS. He died and rose again to become our SAVIOR FROM SINS. And He
lives to remain our SAVIOR FROM SINS.
May I suggest that
you and I are benefited by a DAILY reminder of the sin issue? An
annual one just isn’t sufficient. This daily reminder idea is
certainly Biblical. It’s all part of remembering who we are, where
we’ve come from, and where we’re going. Have you noticed that if we
don’t remember stuff, we forget it? Duh. In fact, it’s all part of our
ongoing need to maintain this Salvation gift which is significantly
dependent on memory. I don’t think anyone can really revel in their
Salvation without remembering what it is Salvation from. A good friend
of mine, the late Jim Hance, demonstrated a healthy balance. He made
it a practice every day to express his praise and worship by exclaiming
out loud, “Halleluiah, I’m saved!” I judge him as another worthy role
model.
“Emotion without devotion is nothing more than commotion.”