Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
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 has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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26 Jan 11
Morning greetings, special people.
Another challenging day looms. And the challenges are in more than one sector. But…nothing new…that’s life. I suppose it’s evidence of the rain and wind and storm that hammers all our houses.
I can tell this much—at 10am, I need to be ready at the mill to cut up a bunch of fir logs that a guy will haul to me. That should be pretty straight forward.
Maybe I’ll tell on myself a bit and admit that I still do some dumb things sometimes. I don’t know if I can blame it on stress, age, or my inabilities with multi-tasking. But yesterday I was close to arriving on time (10am) at the location where I was slated to apply the vinyl graphics to some trucks…and suddenly realized I had left all the vinyl graphics at home! Good job, Sparre! At least today is a little safer…so when the guy comes for me to cut up his logs, there is little risk that I will have forgotten the sawmill—it’s already here! At least I think it is.
Have a great day…leaning on Him.
Love, Dad/Ray
26 January 2011
Proverbs 26
Focus: “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.” Proverbs 26:1.
Within the first 12 verses of this chapter, the word “fool” is used 11 times (in my NIV Bible). It has to be a category of importance. I took the time to look up the term in the dictionary and found these definitions: “One deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding. One who acts unwisely. One who has been or can be easily deceived or imposed.” As I reflect upon my childhood, youth, and general immaturity I have no alternative but to confess, “I’ve been there—done that!” What about you? Isn’t that where we all begin? I trust I’m not speaking here with too much of a big bad blind spot, but I would like to think I’ve done some significant growing up and have made some positive strides since then.
One of the best antidotes to being a FOOL is to understand the profound objective difference between that status and that of WISDOM. Jesus knew that the people around Him needed some help with that comparison, so He presented the illustration in Matthew 7:24-27 that we call THE WISE MAN AND THE FOOLISH MAN. The special defining quality that Jesus ascribes to the WISE MAN goes like this: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.” Conversely, the description of the FOOLISH MAN is this: “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
Don’t miss this: (1) Both are hearers/receivers of God’s revealing Word. (2) Both are involved in a building project. (3) Both are subjected to the same stress factors and challenges. But one remains strong, healthy, and permanent—while the other is absolutely destroyed. Why?
IF you will get this figured out—exercising your own psycho-spiritual gifting, understanding the question and the correct answer, connecting vital dots, making careful application, you are on the right course—a WISE course. But IF NOT?—well—what do you have left? To be sure, “Honor (neither temporal nor eternal) is not fitting for a fool.”
“Fools run in where fools have been before.”