Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

It’s pretty cold out there again. I was a softy this morning and let both dogs into the house. Max is laying near my feet next to the nice wood stove close to the dining table. Whew!—he sure stinks! Dandy is lying on the entry rug near the front door. I have my laptop computer here on the table. So I’m being soft on me too. I have not yet stepped out of doors.

OK—we need to talk. Believe me, I know what it’s like to have to deal with email overload. I realize that times and circumstances and interests are constantly in flux for all of us. Some may receive these daily devotionals with no time or interest to read and simply do DELETE. And I will not be so arrogant as to think you can’t live without them. Therefore, I think it’s a good time to update the recipient list—and suggest December 15 as a cut-off point. So if I don’t receive a request from you to remain a recipient by then, I will assume you would prefer not to be. Simple. I’ll do my best to be a big boy and not be offended if I don’t hear from you. I’ll just never speak to you again. Just kidding.

As I brainstorm for an approach to the new year, I’m thinking I’d like to try to pull off a slow and casual walk through the Psalms and Proverbs—simultaneously. At this point I don’t know exactly how I would slice it up, but I think it could be done. However we slice it, I know there’s easily a year’s worth of inspiration contained in those volumes.

Do I have time for a jog before church? I think so. Blessings on your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

I identify with Thomas. He was resistant to subjectivity—to emotional gullibility. He tried to think things through objectively. He refused to simply be a willing conformist to hype and popular thought. He had good reason to question the claim of the other disciples—that they had actually seen a real living physical Jesus. After all, it’s not very normal for people to rise from the dead after being crucified and buried in a tomb for three days. Not only that, but they said Jesus entered their meeting place unannounced when all the doors were locked! Definitely not normal! So Thomas declared that he wasn’t about to believe all that stuff—unless he saw Jesus for himself. In fact, he wanted to be so careful of his belief that he didn’t want to entirely trust his own seeing—he wanted to combine it with touching, and personally inspecting the evidence of Jesus’ crucifixion wounds.

I have lots of reasons to believe that Jesus knew full well of Thomas’ struggle with doubt and disbelief. But notice that He does not scurry to his side with a personal encounter to dispel his doubts right away. Instead Jesus gives Thomas an entire week in which He allows, even intends, that Thomas would grapple with the data and try to figure things out on his own—that he stew in his reflections of the recent past, and struggle to connect vital dots.

So when Jesus appeared to the disciples a week later, Thomas was given special attention. It didn’t take long for him to connect those vital dots and make the right response—“My Lord and my God!” (v. 28). Wow!

My overview of life, as well as the Scriptures, teaches me not to expect God to intervene and bail me out of my struggles immediately—on my schedule—according to my sense of urgency. Struggle time can be part of my positive development according to HIS curriculum. Furthermore, God doesn’t seem to have as much problem with slow and honest doubt as He does with fast and superficial belief.

PS: I decided that a post script might be appropriate to offer some clarification to a verse in this passage that could be found confusing—verse 23. “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” A noted Greek scholar, Dr. Kenneth Wuest, offers a refined translation of that last key phrase as …”they have been previously forgiven.” I’m inclined to reflect back on the final words of Jesus on the cross—“It is finished” (John 19:30). In other words, Jesus’ role and function as THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD (John 1:29) was now complete. Forgiveness of all the sins of all mankind was hereby paid for in full. It’s kind of like being given the winning lottery ticket—but now the number must be announced and redeemed. So believers do not do the forgiving—they simply announce the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of forgiveness—a much bigger deal than winning the lottery!