Insightful Musings on theScriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings, dear people.
The last couple days found us wearing ourselves out not getting rich…but trying to have fun. We took Thano and his two little boys to Pacific City, pulling our trailer laden with the two Hobie Adventure Island kayaks. We camped in a park across the road from the main beach at Cape Kiwanda. Tuesday evening we teamed up with another guy with a similar model sailing kayak and we had a great time sailing together with a brisk NW wind. The little boys had a great time playing in sand and water and feeding the campground rabbits. Yesterday morning, Thano and I launched our craft again with fishing as our aim. The conditions were perfect for jumping the surf. I can tell of the nice ling cod that jumped out of my kayak. But I did get my limit of nice Rockfish (7). After returning home and cleaning fish, I cooked a couple in the TRAEGER grill. Really good. All that wearing me out turned my old man nap today into a whopping hour and a half. That’s scary.
Have a good evening. Blessings.
Love, Dad/Ray.
Every time I read through these chapters, different fresh ideas seem to emerge. It’s either that, or maybe I just forget what emerged before—so that old ideas just seem like new ideas. In any case, a general warning arises anew from much of Proverbs 23 that I could phrase this way: BEWARE OF ALLOWING YOUR LIFE TO BE DRIVEN BY FEELINGS AND FANTASIES.
In regards to FEELINGS, I’m captivated with a phrase from verse 3—“that food is deceptive.” Interesting. DECEPTIVE FOOD. Hmm. Indeed our American culture is stuffed with that kind of food. The advertisers make it look soooo good. The manufacturers make it taste soooo good. And it feels soooo good to eat it. But much of it is not good food. People do not realize what all those processed “delicacies” (vv. 3, 6) can do to one’s health over time. Thus “DECEPTIVE FOOD” is a good description. To support this idea, the national percentage of obesity and related health issues are astronomical.
FANTASIES seem to fuel the general struggle for wealth. “If I can only make enough money to get that (car, boat, house, RV, face lift—whatever), or if I can stockpile enough wealth to eat, drink, and be merry, and no longer work, then I will be really happy.” But it rarely works out that way.
It’s not uncommon to bend Scripture to conform to our own biases. Maybe I’ll do some of that right here and paraphrase the FOCUS VERSE this way: “Don’t be consumed with constant income-generating; be wise enough to go skiing or fishing once in a while.” I suppose you could paraphrase it to fit you too.
I’m being kind of silly. Nothing new. But I think the serious bottom-line for our living to please our Maker is concisely encapsulated in Psalm 4:5: “Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD.” If we lace into that the challenge of Romans 12:1 and we have a very relevant standard for doing life successfully. And that standard will substantially equip us to avoid the common deceptive traps of living by FEELINGS and FANTASIES.