Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear people.

It’s crazy warm—causing lots of wind—about 60 degrees. We did our walk/jog in those conditions without getting too wet with rain.

It was fairly late when I rose (5:30am). So deciding to compose an original this morning pushes everything else off in the direction of very LATE. Here it is lunchtime already!—and I haven’t achieved any “real” work yet. There is definitely a lot of it to do.

I confess that I yielded to a silly little tangent for a few minutes and went out in our field to try flying one of my stunt kites. The wind was too inconsistent to get anywhere. So that experiment was a failure.

May your day go well. If you have the time and place and conditions, go fly a kite! Stunt kites are fun.

Blessings. Love, Dad/Ray.

It is worth noting what this promise does not say. It does not say, “Blessed is the one who understands—or gets the cryptic symbolism contained in this volume all figured out so as to solve its mysteries and bring future events into clear focus.” Instead the pronounced blessing is for those who thoughtfully read (and/or hear)—with a HEART AFTER GOD. In that regard, this quality of “taking it to heart” would imply to me the ongoing need to accompany the reading/hearing with an attitude of prayer, continually seeking God for illumination and practical application—trusting and believing that He will impart all that in adequate measure as times and needs dictate.

“…because the time is near.” Hmm. What do you make of that? The use of the word “because” would make it appear to me that this is the reason or the cause for the blessing. But how do we figure John saying “the time is near” over 2000 years ago? How can that statement apply equally to both believers then and believers today? The possible answer to the question is occurring to me as an ostensible one. By that I mean that every one, no matter where they land on the time line, faces the option of living in a state of belief and anticipation—as though “the time is near”—reckoning that the fulfillment of all these prophetic mysteries could be fulfilled immediately, or in our own times. As we behold our chaotic and confused world today, appearing to spin out of control on almost every front, we can embrace this overarching charge and HOPE, that it is always the right time to “seek first the kingdom of God,” and that the Sovereign Lord of the universe is still in charge—not wringing His hands in perplexity, or blind-sided by political and international events, with all things sufficiently under His control. After all, He is the One “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (v. 8).

In support of this spin, let me redirect your attention back to what John said in 1 John 3:2-3: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this HOPE in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” Bingo! There’s the blessing—one that springs from this constant orientation of HOPE—one that renders the motivation to live pure, and in a state of readiness, because we know all these things WILL BE FULFILLED in His time—even though we may not presently understand them, or even recognize their fulfillment in advance.