Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear people.

Whew! It’s been a crazy day. I can’t believe it’s already 5pm. And I still have so much more to do.

We had to laugh about my poor hearing when Becki read one of my drafts this morning. It was during the quote from James. I thought I heard her read, “What is your life? You are a MESS that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” We were inclined to agree that however we read it, the shoe seems to fit.

The two little boys that are normally here at this time are not here. Becki received a text message indicating that little Nicholas has been rather sick.

I just heard Thano fire up the sawmill just outside the studio door. We had a load of logs dropped in the wrong place. I decided that rather than move the logs to the mill I would move the mill to the logs.

Blessings on the rest of your day.

Love. Dad/Ray.

Imagine a wedding ceremony where the pastor says, “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife…to have and to hold till death do you part? Say, ‘I do.’”—and the groom says, “Potentially I can.” The pastor might then say, “I didn’t ask if you CAN—I asked if you DO.”

But wait—let’s take this a little deeper. Because just saying, “I do” does not necessarily guarantee that you DO or that you WILL DO SO absolutely—without fail—as though it was a done deal. Consider marriage statistics. It becomes a matter of over-inflated self-confidence and presumption to say, “I WILL DO THIS ABSOLUTELY” when you have not yet done what you promise you will do. Human life is bound by certain limitations. Things can change—and “stuff happens.” That’s the important technicality that James speaks to when he says, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins” (James 4:13-17).

I honestly cannot comprehend how anyone knowledgeable of the Scriptures can fail to recognize that the salvation equation, like marriage, is a two-part deal. God has chosen NOT to make it 100% of His doing. Even if the ratio is something like 99% His part, and ours is only 1%, that 1% is still essential. Like a polyester fiberglass resin that calls for only a very small amount of catalyst, the resin by itself is essentially worthless without the essential catalyst.

Do you see the implicit ratio required in the recipe Paul presents in the FOCUS VERSE? “God and the word of his grace” has all the power and potential for transforming a life into something so strong and permanent as to be eternal. That wonderful resource CAN do that. However it must be mixed with the personal catalyst of seeking, receiving, obeying, and persevering in order to render any benefits to the individual. Without that personal participation, all that wonderful resource is virtually worthless.

I see here another parallel to the gracious offer of John 3:16. It begins with the resin of God’s extravagant love. But all that resin does not benefit me without my adding the catalyst of belief. That mixture achieves eternal permanence. And that’s the same basic promise declared by Paul in the FOCUS VERSE. “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”