Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good afternoon, special people.

I just came in from working on a terribly bad leaking roof on one of our buildings. Thano just pointed it out to me yesterday. I didn’t get far. But now I need to get ready to go with a friend to the Clackamas County Jail. It remains to be seen if I’ll be able to solve the roof problem before rains start up again. Oh well—all we have in that building is a bunch of stuff. Hey—if I just burned the place down, the roof wouldn’t leak any more. Hmm.

Have a good rest of your day.

Blessings. Dad/Ray.

As a kid, I found myself excited about a lot of things—particularly new action and adventure. It was almost hopeless for me to sleep well before a big day scheduled for those ingredients. For example, at the age of 14, I remember twisting my worried mother’s arm so hard that she finally granted permission for me to travel across Seattle on the transit system to a dive shop on the shore of Lake Union to rent a “skin diving” dry suit for the first time so I could go spearfishing with a friend in the cold waters of Puget Sound. Wow!—that was over 57 years ago! And I’ve engaged in that kind of thing ever since. (At what point in this timeline is a person supposed to grow up?) I remember the same kind of excitement before a big day of skiing, or climbing a mountain, or hunting with my grandfather, or a camping trip, or even more recently, navigating our mission boat across open ocean from Noro to Mono, or…

And since early childhood I’ve heard these words and themes of Jesus, even memorizing key passages from the Gospel of John. But I’ve never known them to inspire a greater sense of excitement and adventure than what I am sensing right now. (Is that a sign of growing up?) In some ways, it’s like being a kid all over again—on the verge of new adventure. And I’m reasoning that this sense of excitement can be equated with the JOY that Jesus talks about here and presents as VERY IMPORTANT. “I have told you this so that my JOY (excitement) may be in you and that your JOY may be complete.” Think about it.

However we cut it, there is wonderful evidence before us that this JOY (sense of excitement and adventure) affords some wonderful benefits to the believer. It will provide some strong motivation to REMAIN in Him. “REMAIN in me, and I will REMAIN in you” (v. 4). It will prevent the undesirable condition of UNFRUITFULNESS. “If a man remains in me and I in him HE WILL BEAR MUCH FRUIT; apart from me you can do nothing” (v. 5). It accompanies and allows the wonderful quality of PEACE. “PEACE I leave with you; my PEACE I give you” (14:27). Then, in the same verse, Jesus adds a clear command that defeats our greatest threat to PEACE—WORRY and FEAR. “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Think about it. At some wonderful point (via death or “rapture”) Jesus is going to take us with Him to some wonderful point. “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (14:3). Wow! Are you excited yet? You haven’t seen anything yet! The adventure goes on.