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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2 Dec 10
Good morning, special ones.
I
rose quite early, having been awaken by a stupid dream…then couldn’t
click back into sleep mode. In a little while I’ll be delivering
hot tea to Becki in bed, then I’ll have her critique this composition
before I send it. So—if you can just hold on about a half hour
longer, I’ll get this sent over to you.
Whew! OK—I’m finally back at 6:47am. She was a little slow coming
alive…plus we did some talking. But she approves this message—so
here you go! I guess that you can partly blame her.
Have a good day…a blessed day. Love, Dad/Ray
2 December 2010
Passage: 1 John 2:15-3:10
Focus: “…but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17.
I’ve worked with various forms of epoxy. It offers a wonderful
form of modern covering and adhesive. And I think it offers a
good illustration of what John is stating here. As you know,
almost all epoxy glues and resins come in two parts—the resin base and
the catalyst or hardener. The easiest kind to work with are those
where the two are mixed in equal proportions (1 to 1). Of course,
there is no value or permanence of one without the other. Only as
they are mixed with each other in proper ratio do they form a strong
and lasting bond.
Insofar as your personal salvation and eternal life are concerned, your
own life and strength are as weak and unstable as water. And even
though God’s Word is eternally permanent (“Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35.), it is
also weak and unstable in making you personally and eternally
permanent—unless you properly mix it into your life. Jesus
certainly did not speak idle words when He quoted, “Man does not live
on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”
(Matthew 4:4). In other words, “A person’s eternal permanence is
not established by means of physical processes or human effort, but by
the intake of God’s Word and making its principles and precepts to be
infused into every area of living.”
Listen again to what Peter has to say on the subject: “Now that you
have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere
love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
For you have been born again, not of perishable (impermanent) seed, but
of imperishable (permanent), through the living and enduring word of
God. For, ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like
the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but
the word of the Lord stands forever.’ And this is the word that
was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:22-25).
In
view of all this, David is a terrific role model when he says, “I have
hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm
119:11).
“Every believer should own a READ Bible.”