Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear ones.

Big day today…as we engage in a big day for Lorna and Ray Wilson (Becki’s sister) who celebrate 65 years of marriage. At least it’s not slated to be as hot today. Yesterday hit around 100 degrees—the hottest day of the year so far. The reason it was so hard for many to handle is that there was nothing gradual in the weather patterns leading up to that blast of heat.

I think I’ll sneak off and sweat a little and attempt a jog. Stay cool…and blessed.

Love, Dad/Ray.

No—this is not a scriptural contradiction that shows Paul as being controlled by a negative destructive fear. He is simply testifying to a healthy kind of realism that every believer should have. It is a fear based on recognition of some important Biblical facts—(1) the natural waywardness of the human heart, and (2) the subtlety of the enemy’s tactics at manipulating and influencing that human heart to wander outside the safety and security zone of Christ and His Word. In fact, it was this form of positive fear that influenced Paul to send Timothy to the Thessalonians to encourage and strengthen their faith (3:2). That “fear”-driven effort seems to have been richly rewarded.

Notice the number of times that the word “faith” appears in chapter 3. I count 5 times. It is a word that defines the essential ingredient of successful living (…as well as successful dying. After all, I don’t want my dying to be a failure any more than I want my living to be a failure). God has clearly done much to make available and nurture this essential quality—and one that the tempter purposes to neutralize and destroy—creating an ongoing tension. So like it or not, you and I are actually walking battlefields in which this conflict continues between the two kingdoms of the universe. Question: In regards to this very small battlefield (your own human heart) of this very big war (universal conflict between the two kingdoms), which side do you want to win? It’s important to remember that a choice is required—and to not choose is itself a choice.

If this is true—that faith is of vital importance, and that the symbolic container for faith is the heart—then the words of Solomon in Proverbs 4:23 provide some very good practical advice: “Above all else (Can there be anything more important than above all else?), guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”