Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, special ones.

I guess I’m loosing it. It occurred to me this morning that I had become so tangled up with my juggling act yesterday that I failed to actually press the send button on this composition for Monday. Then after re-reading it, I actually added more bulk—so it may be unbearably long. But a good speed-reader could get through it in less than an hour.

The objective list I face for today could drive a guy loony. But since I’m already that, I expect to get along just fine. A tree job I looked at yesterday calls for some serious tree climbing. That right there confirms how loony I am for some onlookers—especially when they ask, “How old are you?”

Please have a good day—dependent upon a good God—since we desperately need Him at every point.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Confession: I AM BIASED. There—I just admitted it. And why shouldn’t I be? The more I think about it, the more obvious it becomes that EVERYONE IS BIASED! There—I just admitted it for you. Deal with it! Even people who boast of being open-minded and bias-free are biased in their belief that their biased view is best. So on it goes. Of course, my BIASED BIBLE BELIEF leads me to believe that it is best—because I am BIBLICALLY BIASED—based on authority much bigger than my independent bias.

One of my basic biased Biblical beliefs is that THE WORK OF GOD IS PEOPLE. For the most part, I quite enjoyed the adventure that view afforded me during our years spent cross-culturally while officially working as a foreign missionary. And even now, as I work in a more unofficial capacity as a self-employed layman, I quite enjoy the same adventure. Strangely, I keep meeting people everywhere I go—they’re everywhere!—people with different personalities, backgrounds, world views, and spiritual temperatures (by Biblical standards). Coupled with that is another one of my basic biased Biblical beliefs—that is, every last one of those people I meet NEED GOD—and not just a little bit—PEOPLE NEED GOD DESPERATELY. I suppose it was this basic biased Biblical perspective that lent some inspiration for a simple little chorus I put together a few mornings ago while driving and praising. Well, here—I’ll just grab my guitar and sing it for you:

According to my biased view, there is probably no idea more damaging to a person’s real success in life or their ultimate eternal destiny than the dirty little notion that says, “I don’t need God!” That idea afflicts many people in various forms and measures—and I don’t see it going anywhere good. People who don’t need God don’t worship Him. When Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), I am recognizing more clearly with time that He means a lot more than just our need to be free from sin and making it to heaven. Here’s a premise for that bias: Only the Sovereign Creator can manipulate and transform dirt into life! Can anyone clearly explain to me the legitimacy of a person being so proud and arrogant over something (their living existence) they had absolutely nothing to do with? My biased view sees that every little atom, molecule, cell, corpuscle, and organ that accounts for your physical living existence is totally and desperately dependent upon the Sovereign MAKER/OWNER. Listen again to the Apostle Paul’s biased belief concerning Christ: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Acts 17:28). Can you say, WOW?!

While I meet some people along the way that open up to dynamic Christian fellowship in response to my little test questions and comments, others are more of the type that Amos is predicting and describing in the FOCUS VERSE. In those encounters I have just touched a very sensitive button—the no-talk zone of their lives. They are more comfortable with the superstitious approach—like they want to say, “Hush! Let’s not even go there! These topics of God, sin, death, and the hereafter are spooky and closed for me! If we just don’t talk about this stuff, we won’t risk debate, and maybe all the confusion and difficulty associated with it will just go away—at least not get any worse than it already is. Besides, I sure don’t want to risk abandoning my trophies of self-righteousness, my preconceived opinions, and my sense of self-sufficiency. I just can’t stand the idea that I might be a little bit wrong—or in any way accountable to Him—or that I might actually need Him?!”

“Oh, Lord—help us to see our desperate need for You at every point!”