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 |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 Oct 10
Greetings, dear people.
Whew! I’m beat. And It’s hard to stay awake. I worked with
the sawmill all day. And since I didn’t get this off this
morning, it’s now being sent kind of late.
Have a nice sleep. I hope I do to. I plan to finish up that
mill job tomorrow.
Love, Dad/Ray
7 October 2010
Passage: Hebrews 10:19-39
Focus: “…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…” Hebrews 10:22
Why
draw near? I think this passage graphically answers that
question. And while I could get carried away with a lot of commentary,
I’m choosing to simply quote the entire passage from the Message
translation with the hope that it will resonate with your senses.
“So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into
‘the Holy Place.’ Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his
sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The ‘curtain’ into
God’s presence is his body.
“So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside
and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us
going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we
can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshipping
together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see
the big Day approaching.
”If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been
given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and
are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment
it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is
physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son,
spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most
gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us
that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite
explicit: ‘Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing,’ and,
‘God will judge his people.’ Nobody’s getting by with anything,
believe me.
“Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those
were hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind
of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some
friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke
in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they
couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you,
nothing set you back. So don’t throw it all away now. You
were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But
you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there
for the promised completion.
‘It won’t be long now, he’s on the way;
He’ll show up most any minute.
But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust;
If he cuts and runs, I won’t be very happy.’
But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.”
“Backsliding is one of the easiest things in the world to do—you simply
do nothing.”