Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear people.

We just came in from our little walk/jog routine. It’s quite a pretty morning—cool, misty, calm—expecting to see some signs of frost—but didn’t. The dogs were as goofy as ever. Max has a real strange response to, “Drop the ball!” He invariably flops down and rolls over on his back—as though you’re supposed to scratch his belly—but still retains the ball in his mouth. “I said, drop the ball—not you!” Of course, that word of clarification has absolutely no affect. It has about the same impact as facts do on the liberal media.

I lay in bed doing some engineering and strategizing on the timberframe project I have going. I did a miss-cut on one piece last evening due to failing to add 2” to a critical piece to accommodate the tenon—and want to make sure I don’t repeat the same mistake. It really is important to visualize how every part of this truss is to fit together.

May your day go well—as you maintain your status as one of his sheep.

Love, Dad/Ray.

The whole of verse 16 reads: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”

I hope you can see yourself represented by these words of Jesus. We who are fenced in and penned up within a different period of time, about 2000 years distant from that particular “sheep pen,” still have the option of becoming one of His sheep. “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3).

We all know that there is only ONE Jesus Christ, only ONE heaven, only ONE source of authority (ONE Bible, ONE Word of God), and all that—but it’s still very easy to allow the picture to become blurred by all the controversies that abound within the flock. There are a lot of different spins that different sheep will apply to the Gospel, to the Scriptures, and to the voice of the LORD. Without attempting a lot more comment, I would just like to encourage you to narrow down the fundamental priorities of your task and responsibility—your homework assignment (How about calling it your “heart-work assignment?”). This assignment is both simple and taxing—but must be done.

1. DETERMINE WHO AND WHAT IS THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD. There’s a lot of noise out there—some of which claiming to be “His voice,” but isn’t.
2. DETERMINE WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS OF BEING HIS SHEEP (The bottom line, of course, is A HEART AFTER GOD), and
3. DO YOUR UTMOST TO LINE UP. If we will do what we can in response to His Word, He will come along side to help us do what we can’t. That’s how it works.

I am confident that your pursuit of these priorities will be richly rewarded.