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.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11 Oct 11
Good, good, morning, to you.
The family gang is at the breakfast table. I looked over to see Kaden’s mouth smeared with whipped cream. I guess I’ll go light up his life a bit more and butcher a ripe mango…and join them.
Have a wonderful day.
Love, Dad/Ray
11 October 2011
Psalm 140
Focus: “Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day.” Psalm 140:1-2.
The sad fact is that you don’t necessarily have to go to some den of obvious perversity to find manifestations of evil. Given enough time and exposure, you will find quite enough evil on display within churches. Why is this so? It’s really quite simple, yet regularly not clearly understood—some times rejected. LOCAL CHURCHES ARE COLLECTIONS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE AT VARIOUS STAGES OF BEING SET FREE FROM SIN (“sin’s deceitfulness”—Hebrews 3:12-13). Christian churches are not composed of squeaky-clean models of perfection, but a fellowship of people who are (or supposed to be) in the process of getting their dirty hearts cleaned up and maintained “by the washing of water through the word” (Ephesians 5:26).
This fact, I’m sure, is what gives rise to the condemnation of many outsiders that “churches are full of hypocrites.” But since hypocrisy is built in to the natural sin nature, I quite like the message that a pastor once posted in front of his church—“ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE HYPOCRITE.”
To illustrate “sin’s deceitfulness,” let’s do a little imaginary interview with one of the “evil men” David is talking about in the FOCUS VERSES above. “Good morning, sir. Did you know that you have been identified as an EVIL MAN?” “What? Listen, dude, you say that again, I’ll knock your teeth out! I want you to know that I’m a member in good standing with the local synagogue! I’m also in the line of the Tribe of Judah—a bona fide Jew—one of God’s chosen people. So don’t go calling me EVIL!” OK, I admit I’m going outside Scripture, but I don’t really think I’m stretching its application.
Please know that the way the LORD rescues the righteous from evil men is not so much by means of external disassociation, but by internal transformation. Let me quote Romans 12:2 once again: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
“Sin means that our reason is warped by our pride.” - Robert Raines