Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear people.

We finally pulled into our driveway last evening in the pickup truck carrying the camper and pulling the mill. I think I put on a pretty good show with that mill, turning out several thousand board feet of valuable fencing lumber for this big ranch. I worked two 9-hour days—plus nearly 3 hours yesterday morning. The dumbest thing I did was to go to that coastal area without any rain gear. If the owner had not run home to get some old rain garb for me, I would have been in trouble. To wrap up my intense work, we had lunch yesterday at the little café at Bay Center on Willapa Bay. Since it’s one of the main oyster centers for the entire coast, we had some oysters—and even coaxed little Callie to eat a bite. It was also fun to feast on blackberries that are big and prolific. Of course, they’re best with some ice cream.

Back to the home grind, lots to put on the list. I’ll focus on the list—but also wish I could go pull in some tuna that are hot off the coast now. Oh well. It’s good to know that wishing I could catch tuna is not a sin.

Have a blessed day doing whatever you have to do—or even wishing you could do what you can’t do.

Blessings. Love, Dad/Ray.

We’ll be short and sweet for those who embrace these Biblical Gospel truths that the Apostle Paul is passionately presenting. But the same presentation plays out to be short and bitter for those who reject.

YOU are a slave. You ARE a slave. You are a SLAVE. Do you get the point? This is not just my opinion talking. If the Bible is TRUE, this is TRUTH. And the critical determination for all of us to make is this: WHO’S SLAVE DO I CHOOSE TO BE? It appears that there is no lasting neutral zone.

Here is the hallmark of Biblical revelation as it presents the great options before us. Let’s hone in on the last verse of chapter 6—a well-known scripture—and well-known for very good reason. I would recommend that you memorize it and reflect on it often—like 24/7! Let’s quote it here. I’ll take the liberty to insert some parenthetical comments.

“For the wages of sin (the final outcome of slavery to sin) is death (spiritual, eternal, conscious death), but the gift of God (the final outcome of His Amazing Grace) is eternal life in(through, by means of) Christ Jesus our Lord” (the absolute best ‘slave master!’) (Romans 6:23).