Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings, dear ones.
Only minutes ago we bid farewell to Elvin and Eunice…on their way home to Southern Oregon. Since their arrival last evening, we’ve had some great fellowship/dialogue. Wish you could have listened in. Becki is already gone (9:30am) to engage in the class she helps teach at Pheasant Pointe. Thano is outside playing with his two little ones. Thankfully, there is some sunshine.
I’ll head out soon to do a round of sawmill work.
May your day be blessed…as you contemplate the size of the issues we face.
Love, Dad/Ray.
Taking into account the whole of Biblical revelation, I’d like to attempt a concise paraphrase of these words by Jesus: “He who joins with me participates in the solution. He who rejects me remains a part of the problem.” Of course, the universal problem is SIN. And the exclusive solution for this core problem is JESUS.
Jesus goes on to give a small but authoritative glimpse into how things work in the realm of evil spirits (vv. 24-26). It’s spooky. Who else could present this kind of information? We can be sure He is not just putting forth a theory or opinion—which is all we finite humans can do. This brief disclosure helps to confirm the huge devastating consequences of rejecting Christ and His Lordship. So when one rejects the invitation influences of the Kingdom of God, he unwittingly and automatically (by default) makes himself open and vulnerable to the influences and controls of the enemy kingdom. Every person, therefore, faces the real option of either becoming a “house of God” or a “haunted house.” And the only way to be the former over the latter is to “SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS…” (Matthew 6:33). Why in the world does this make so much sense to me—but so little sense to “unbelievers?” Read again the last section of this reading for the fundamental answer (vv. 33-36). To be sure it has to do with internal enlightenment—the mystical, yet profound, work of the Spirit of God—the quintessential opposite to the work of evil spirits.
While Jesus was teaching along these lines, a woman in the crowd was distracted by a form of MARIOLOTRY (the deification and worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus) and called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Jesus forthrightly corrected her by replying, “Blessed rather are those who HEAR (hearing ears) the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:27-28). Don’t let this get by you. This is not only a statement describing mankind’s solution in general, it is YOUR SOLUTION in particular!