Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

Becki and I managed our walk/jog this morning. It wasn’t near as cold. And, thankfully, there was no rain falling.

Not much work done this morning. This little devotional demanded a lot of time. I dropped off my pickup truck at my mechanic’s shop about 6am, and have already picked it up and drove it home—with its new power steering pump installed. I need that old truck to be healthy and functional. There’s a lot of hauling to do with it. Even at breakfast I received a call from a friend informing me that I can pick up a load of specialty lumber that is now out of his dry kiln—ready for me to craft into a big rustic dining table and benches for a family. The top will measure about 4’x10’. I’ll probably consume at least 40 hours of fabrication time for that project.

Have a great rest of your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

How does a person cope who is convinced that all of reality is a composition of material substance?—with no such thing as spirit—and all those “spiritual experiences” that people claim are no more than illusions generated by one’s own psychology. Will that person ever find a meaningful relationship with God? According to the words of Jesus in this passage, the answer to that last question has to be NO—absolutely not.

When I say that I love my wife, what do I mean? Do I just love her physicality?—her female form with its distinctive contours and parts?—the composition of molecules and atoms that compose her body? Would I love her equally if I spoke to her and she didn’t answer?—touched her and she didn’t respond?—requested that she do something and she didn’t move? In other words, would I love her equally if she were dead?—just a lifeless body? That’s definitely NOT what marriage is all about. It’s a living breathing responsive relationship. And a wife without life is a dead wife—just like faith without living action is dead faith. Well, let’s take a moment to review that concept the way James is inspired to present it: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). And to be sure, the wonderful dynamic of Biblical Christianity is wrapped up in both LIFE and LOVE—the opportunity of a finite human being to know a living, breathing, responsive relationship with an infinite God. Putting it in these terms helps to expose the emptiness and lifelessness of settling for a cold, dead, liturgical version of Christianity—a form of godliness that denies the living relationship thereof (2 Timothy 3:5).

I believe that we are touching on a key concept here that speaks to everything else, adequately unlocking all the other mysteries of life—that life itself is a God thing—a reality that cannot be explained solely in material terms, and substantiated by laboratory testing and engineering. Remember?—“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men” (John 1:3-4). I repeat—LIFELESS MATERIAL CANNOT DO LIFE INDEPENDENT OF GOD! If that is true, the Author of life is entirely worthy of honor, praise, love, and worship. And therein we have the core of a Bible-based victorious, living, breathing, fun, fulfilling, adventure-filled Christian life—relationship with God—even with all the hardships, setbacks, persecutions, problems, difficulties, and crosses.

What day do you suppose Jesus meant when He said, “On that day…”? My best guess is that it represents that special personal “moment of truth” when the Holy Spirit of Truth (v. 17) steps in to turn the lights on within a seeker’s soul, reprograms the mind with a new way to think, and sets one on a life course of intimate relationship with God, leading the follower “into all truth” (John 16:13). It is a point where the believer truly embraces the truth-claim of Jesus in the FOCUS VERSE—“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”—and finds confirmation in personal experience.