Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good afternoon, dear one.

I met a guy this morning at 8am at his property to inspect logs and make a plan for milling and firewood exchange. Other engagements and interruptions have followed. I need to run install a few small signs…then be back to begin a milling operation for people slated to arrive about 2:30pm. So it’s not a relaxing lazy Saturday.

II’m not sure if the devotional below is entirely finished. I certainly don’t wish to be using the Bible as a head-bashing tool. But Becki thought the spin I took was provocative and relevant enough to warrant sending.

Have a blessed rest of the day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

This, of course, is to presume that the reader is SERVING THE LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY—a synonym phrase for a HEART AFTER GOD. It also presumes that the reader KNOWS and truly BELIEVES something about the administration of God—something not everyone KNOWS and/or BELIEVES—that the Sovereign is constantly running a flawless surveillance system that tallies data that will be used in judgment—toward assigning rewards or penalties. But it also presents a scary possibility: WHAT IF THE READER DOES NOT REALLY SERVE THE LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY--AND DOES NOT REALLY KNOW OR BELIEVE THAT HE IS CONSTANTLY BEING MONITORED AND WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDINGLY?

It is this possibility that becomes probability when trying to explain why and how certain acclaimed Bible believers deviate into such obvious sin—all the while posing as exemplary holy representatives of God’s righteousness. You know the type. And you probably know which televangelist first comes to my mind as an example. Since the residue of Jeremiah 17:9 is never completely and absolutely wiped away this side of eternity, not even for practicing believers, the deceptive justification for secret sin could go something like this: “Since I am so obviously used of God, and have tallied up so many years of renowned Christian experience, maybe I can be excused for a little indulgence in the flesh. Or maybe I can use my track record of moral excellence or my accumulation of great personal success stories as an exemption so as to beat the system.” However one crafts their defense, it is definitely a dirty diabolical deception to deem that the Most High is primarily concerned with the façade of outward appearances.

The last phrase of the reading wraps it all up with scary sobering clarity—“…and there is no favoritism with him” (v. 9).