Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones…even though there is precious little of it left.

We took on our normal WOG with the dog. He did fine again. He still displays no interest in leaving our place. He sure has some amusing hangups that I guess I won’t worry about too much. For example, when we leave the property in the car or pickup, perhaps it’s his herding nature that makes him want to feel like he’s herding the vehicle out the driveway. He runs along beside it, and may bark some, but midway on the driveway, he’ll do some strange reasoning like, “OK…I guess I’ve fulfilled my responsibility now to get them off to a safe start”—then he’ll just return to the house and await our return.

Please have a great day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Beware of subjective illusions. Don’t trust what you’ve always believed—the way you’ve always done things. They are not reliable standards to live by. Feeling secure has almost nothing to do with being secure. Very likely every time we hear in the news of a plane crash, traffic fatality, workplace accident that claims a life, or even the diagnosis of a terminal illness, those involved “felt secure”—until the reality of their insecurity was tragically proven against their will. The fact is there is no such thing as security this side of eternity. Once again, let’s agree that life is dangerous—this is “the valley of the shadow of death”—and no one gets out of it alive—not in the absolute physical safe and secure measure of things.

But alas!—most of us tend to live with a false sense of security that may be based in the unsound reasoning of, “So far, so good—I’ve made it OK this far from my youth—my mindset, worldview, and opinions have kept me safe for many years—see?—I’m still alive—there you have it!—so I’ll just carry on feeling that I’m just as OK and secure as anyone else.”

I’m not a very experienced skydiver. I’ve only done one solo jump. If I had more money, I’d probably do more. There are some who think I’m out of my mind to even want to do something like that. I guess, for one thing, I’m afflicted with a basic mindset to objectively test and prove things—including my own sense of security. It all boils down to a matter of trust. When it comes to physical security, do I trust in my subjective feelings to keep me safe or in what I objectively know and believe? Skydiving is a good test. That experience provided further proof that what I know and believe is more reliable than what I feel. I had to throw all my feelings out the open door of that airplane before I could ever throw my frail body out.

For this very reason, I have a climbing rope tied off high on a tree near the creek with a 40-foot ladder going up to the connection. I like to encourage my grandkids and any willing guests to take the challenge to learn to rappel. It offers another good opportunity for people to challenge and overcome their feelings of fear by what they have learned, know, and believe. When one knows and believes in the equipment (the ladder, rope, saddle, caribiner, and descending ring) and their proper use, there is no objective reason to be governed by subjective feelings of fear. It’s simple math—if feelings and fears are not challenged and brought into subjection, they will remain to reign with governing control.

The word “safety” catches my attention in 23:6—“In his (the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ) days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.” Wow! Don’t miss this. The absolute safest thing you can possibly do while navigating the unsafe terrain of planet earth is to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), because, in spite of how we may “feel,” we don’t have any righteousness of our own—none worth more than “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) that is—a very inadequate exchange for the status of “saved.” “saved?” (See also Philippians 3:9)