Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

Not much left of the morning. Some of it has been taken up with a major dilemma as it relates to Thano’s truck. As the symptoms and original causes come to light, our mechanic is now inclined to believe the rig is in line for an engine replacement—and he doesn’t really think the truck is worth it. Thano is at work and doesn’t know about this latest development. There are no affordable solutions in view at this point. The adventure continues.

I’m drawing again from the archive of devotionals composed in 2010.

May the Lord help you resolve your own dilemmas—unless you don’t have any. I have a hunch you do. I think they are the stuff of life.

Love, Dad/Ray.

In the course of my meeting and talking with a broad range of people of late, there is a statement I make quite regularly: “You need religion about like you need another hole in your head—but you do need relationship with your Manufacturer.” I don’t know if that resonates with you like it does with me. I think it becomes particularly meaningful when we offer the definitions I intend for the key words.

1. Religion: Man-made. It’s the attempt of a sinful man to win God’s acceptance and approval on his own by conformity to religious rules, regulations, and good works.


2. Relationship: God-made. This is the gracious demonstration of a Holy God to reach out to a sinful man, allowing access, fellowship, and transformation.

In the passage before us, we have a couple more examples of the ugly and destitute nature of religion without relationship. Jesus is caught red-handed by the religious legalists allowing His disciples to eat some kernels of grain while walking through a field on the Sabbath—and not getting upset about it—a serious violation of their religious laws. I guess they judged that as work by harvesting. On another occasion, Jesus had the audacity to release the miracle power of God to heal a man on the Sabbath. Oh, how terrible! Their ugly cold hearts are identified when it says, “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath” (6:7). It wasn’t a matter of “could he?” but “would he?” Sure enough He did. So, did they praise God for this wonderful miraculous gift of healing granted to this man? Not a chance. Religion doesn’t behave that way. Instead it says, “But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus” (6:11). Nice people. Very religious.

I don’t have to think very long to determine which option I choose. Relationship with my Maker wins hands down.