Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good morning, dear ones.
I want to get out for a jog before we prepare to head for our 10am Gospel Sing session at Country Meadows in Woodburn. We’ll do the same kind of thing here in Molalla this afternoon at 3pm.
We are definitely living in wild and uncertain times insofar as economy, politics, social unrest, and national security are concerned. It sure makes a lot of sense to maintain close relationship with the One Who transcends all that. I admit that I’m not very “politically correct.” I’m so out of step with the norm that I genuinely worry for those who are.
Have a great day…serving Him.
Love, Dad/Ray
In the same way that a hopped-up powerful engine is powerless without fuel, so the Gospel is just another cold religious statue without the fuel of the Holy Spirit causing an internal combustion against sin, revving up the mind to understand TRUTH, and supercharging the heart with love for God and a burden for the lost.
What a change has been wrought in the lives of these followers of Jesus since the Spirit’s outpouring! What a change their witness has affected in the community! There was a recent command of Jesus Himself to be witnesses. There was the conviction that He would come back again. There were the accompanying supernatural confirmations that God was at work in the form of signs and wonders, miracles, and healings, along with anointed preaching. Wow! What a time! People were so fired up and excited, they could hardly stand it. The Lord certainly granted a good deal of fuel for the starting of His Church.
But here you and I are, two thousand years later. The church has been running for a long time. In some times and places it has run with almost original power. In other times and places it has had the appearance of completely running out of fuel…or worse.
I suppose we would all have to admit that our own personal history reveals a certain amount of rise and fall. We too have been a composition of weak and strong. Our own “walk in the Spirit” has been less than stable and consistent. I think it’s healthy to recognize that fact. At the same time I think it’s good to avoid feelings of inferiority when comparing the way things are with the way things were. Understand that, while times and environments change, the power and fuel source is still the same. Just stay close to Jesus. He’s the One Who said, “All power is given unto me” (Matthew 28:18). And it is still “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).