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 |
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10 Nov 11
Gorgeous morning greetings, dear ones.
I don’t know how gorgeous my greeting is…but the morning sure is. And even when I rose about 3am, the full moon was casting its light through cedars along the creek. Just beautiful. I made myself do a jog…even though it was hard to justify the time.
Lots on the agenda. I hear Kash running the mill. I spent some time last evening repairing it after a minor breakdown. Becki took Thano to a foot doctor. And I need to get moving with a resolve to get some things crossed off my list. Oh oh…just got a call. Need to figure some things and go submit an invoice.
May the Lord bless and inspire you today.
Hey…I’m just getting an idea…remember what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7? “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Is that another way of saying, “God has not intended that we be controlled by negative subjectivism, but by a clear mind that embraces objective truth and produces good fruit?” No extra charge for this one.
Love, Dad/Ray
10 November 2011
Job 20
Focus: “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed. I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.” Job 20:2-3.
I’m getting tired of all this stuff. It’s like a hot talk-show debate. How about we talk about something else? How about we turn the stupid radio off and go fishing?—or build something?—or do something useful? How about we at least jump ahead to chapter 38? Having to hang around Job and this drawn out controversy is about as fun as smashing your finger in a door just to see if you can stand it. Nevertheless (pause), if I think real hard, there are some positive benefits to critiquing even Zophar’s biased bomb that he’s trying to drop on Job and blow him out of the water.
Over the last several years, I’ve formulated a kind of postulate for myself. Perhaps I’ll drop it on you and hope it doesn’t do anything destructive. MY GREATEST CHALLENGE IN LIVING IS TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE ACCORDING TO WHAT I KNOW RATHER THAN ACCORDING TO WHAT I FEEL.
In close relationship with that postulate is my view that the gift of OBJECTIVE (Dictionary: “Of or pertaining to actual existence as distinguished from a mental concept. Uninfluenced by emotion, surmise, or personal opinion.”) thought is the hallmark of God’s creative design for mankind—an essential component of being created in God’s image and likeness. Of course, He has also embedded in man the gift of SUBJECTIVE (Dictionary: “Of, produced by, or resulting from an individual’s mind or state of mind. Existing only within the experiencer’s mind and incapable of external verification.”) thought and experience as well, with the intent that the OBJECTIVE govern the SUBJECTIVE. But alas!—I’m afraid most people get the plan upside-down.
I don’t know about you, but I choose to strive to embrace an OBJECTIVE FAITH. I’m scared of one that is SUBJECTIVELY driven. And, to be very honest, I’ve become pretty wary of those claims that many make within Christian circles like, “The Lord spoke to me…” or “God showed me…” or “I feel the Lord wants me to…” I’m not saying that God can’t and doesn’t lend some subjective feeling to guidance, but I’m also convinced that God gets blamed for all kinds of stuff He didn’t really have anything to do with.
As a practical case in point, let me raise this question: How believable is it to hear someone make the subjective claim, “I am Spirit-filled,” but are not able to combine that claim with objective evidence—“the fruit of the Spirit?” OK, we won’t spend a lot of time trying to take this apart, but Galatians 5 is a very important objective checklist to help keep our practical faith on track. In principle, if your subjective reality is not supporting your objective reality—well, sorry, but you have a problem.
Do you hear how Zophar is commencing his round of rhetoric? “Troubled thoughts…greatly disturbed…dishonors me…my understanding inspires me.” I’d like to say this—“Excuse me, Mr. Zophar, but since when is all your subjectivity a guide and guarantee of truth? We cannot allow your feelings and emotions to shape our reality. Will you please back off and quit beating up Job with your subjectivism?” I didn’t really expect him to listen. Like the old proverb goes—“A man convinced against his will (subjective-based reality) is of the same opinion still.” He goes right on bashing Job. In fact, in verse 6 he implicitly accuses Job of being driven by pride—in verse 12 Zophar charges him with hiding the truth (deceit)—in verse 19 he actually conjures up specific moral violations—“For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.” Zophar has probably been saying to the others, “Now we know how Job got to be so wealthy.”
Another heated debate is raging in my New Testament reading in John 8. Jesus is responding to the biased and subjective onslaught of His attackers. What Jesus absolutely KNOWS from His realm of OBJECTIVE-driven truth is in sharp collision with their SUBJECTIVE-driven feelings and assumptions to the point that they are now accusing Jesus of being demon-possessed (John 8:48). And then when Jesus exclaimed, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58…the fact that He was not only representing God, but WAS GOD), their subjectivism exploded and went entirely off the charts—man!—they went into a subjective frenzy and were scrambling to find objective rocks and use them to appease the storm of their subjective anger and discomfort (John 8:59).
Do you think there could be some lessons here for us?
“Make no judgments where you have no compassion.” - Anne McCarrfey