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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4 April 11
Greetings in the morning, dear special people.
There’s some rain out there…and more is predicted. But in the mountains that is being translated as snow. I wonder if…well…we’ll see.
Big agenda today. Need to keep plowing. Need to make some money.
I realize my production for today is rather long. But I’m actually biting my lip…I mean, my fingers…to hold myself from getting more carried away with this topic than I did. There is simply too much to consider within scripture showing the contrast between DARKNESS and LIGHT.
May your day be blessed. Amen!
Love, Dad/Ray
4 April 2011
Proverbs 4
Focus: “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18.
Why in the world would anyone LOVE DARKNESS INSTEAD OF LIGHT? Within the physical world that kind of love seems absurd—unless all one wants to do is sleep. Nevertheless in the spiritual realm it is terribly commonplace. I’d like to offer two answers to that lead question: (1) Jesus answers that question with no room for misunderstanding. He does so right there in that famous conversation with Nicodemas in John 3. “This is the verdict: (And this is God’s verdict—not man’s!) Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” (John 3:19-21). (2) Now consider Romans 1:18-32. I know this is kind of a lengthy passage, but the more I think about it, the more it seems fitting to review it. Notice the answer given 3 times in this passage that GOD GAVE THEM OVER—that is, He granted them the freedom to reject Him and His LIGHT along with their terrible DARK deeds and consequences.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Meanwhile, back in Proverbs 4, allow me to join verse 18 with verse 19: “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”
Don’t just think about it—don’t ever stop!
“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes the relish off spiritual things, this is sin to you.” -
Susanna Wesley