Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

Sleeping in till 5am always causes things to run too late. I think I need to resort back to an alarm clock set for no later than 4am.

The little boys are here…all three of them. That includes Thano. At present they have just run off in the car with Becki to go get some milk and cream at a nearby farm. That also allows the little boys to see the animals…horses, cattle, and goats. One of the services this farm renders is horse boarding. So there are lots of them…with a big arena for exercising them under cover. It occurs to me that a lot of people pay money to visit a place like that. Poor deprived little kids. Never get to do nothin’.

Have a blessed day.

Love. Dad/Ray.

Please bear with me while I flex my imagination and add a few descriptions to Naaman’s list of trophies and accolades. He was an incredible musician and with just two fingers could play the piano with such passion so as to make the audience cry and honor him with a 30-minute standing ovation. He was also an incredible athlete and won 16 gold medals in the 580 B.C. Summer Olympics in events ranging from weight-lifting to the 100 meter butterfly. Besides all that, he was a remarkable philanthropist and organized the building of 8 homeless shelters in city ghettos and 23 hospitals in Somalia and Rwanda. We could go on to make either a true list or a fictitious one—it doesn’t really matter—because we still have to arrive at the unavoidable fact following the BUT—“but he had leprosy.” And to make a TRUE spiritual parallel from God’s perspective, we could put it this way: BUT HE WAS AFFLICTED WITH THE TERMINAL ILLNESS OF SIN. There’s the bigger problem.

This continues to be a hard pill for SINNERS to swallow. Indeed, they never can and never will without a heart-level turning to God. That’s why I think it’s a legitimate strategy to challenge unbelievers (…like Naaman’s servants challenged Naaman—5:13) to do just that—to personally give God a chance to turn on their lights—to pray something like, “God, if you are there and have things for me to see that I don’t see, or to know that I don’t know, or to do that I haven’t done, then I invite your revelation.” Who could condemn this as being too dangerous? What does anyone have to lose? The only things at risk are some wrong ideas. Furthermore, that’s why encouraging people to continue their search for God’s truth by reading the Gospel of John impresses me as a good follow-through plan as well. I’m convinced that a heart-level reading of that volume cannot avoid this general conclusion: GOD DID NOT COME TO MAKE BAD PEOPLE GOOD, BUT TO MAKE DEAD PEOPLE LIVE.

This story is easy to preach. It abounds with principles and lessons. Let me end off by calling your attention to just one more. Notice the flip-flopping conditions between Naaman and Gehazi. Naaman moved from darkness to light—from sickness to health, while Gehazi moved from light to darkness—from health to sickness. Simple lesson: Anything less than a HEART AFTER GOD puts one at risk of darkness and the consequences of a serious terminal illness. And background or achievements don’t really alter this fundamental truth.