2016 picture of Ray Sparre

Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67


December 1, 2018

Good morning, dear ones.

Wow! December already?! Tazzy is showing signs of being anxious to go out for our fairly regular exercise excursion. After that I need to run off to check out a small sign job. After that I need to go pick up my sawmill where I’ve used it for a few weeks and move to another job that just materialized yesterday.

I just checked conditions on the mountain—24” now at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. Playing in the snow is just around the corner. A little earlier this morning, I checked the lift rates at Mount Hood Meadows and confirmed that I’ll be able to ski free there too following my March birthday, when I turn 75. Cool. There are a few benefits with being an old geezer. Of course, I also have to wonder how long I can keep this up. I guess that wonder should also include the strange spectrum of work I do. Oh well—I think I’ll just keep living until I die—enhanced by the JOY OF THE LORD.

Have a blessed day—as we take on this last month of the year.

Love—Ray.

01 Dec 2018
1 John 1:1-2:24
Focus: “We are writing these things to you because we want to release to you our fullness of joy.”
1 John 1:4 (The Passion Translation)

I believe it really is a great question to raise in the course of our social interaction with people—both with Bible believers and Bible unbelievers: WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST SOURCE OF JOY? In other words, WHAT IS YOUR PASSION? WHAT MOST PROFOUNDLY ‘FLOATS YOUR BOAT?’ The answer to a question like that triggers spontaneous fellowship with fellow passionate believers. And one of the beauties of that phenomenon is that it can and does happen anywhere on the globe when those of “like precious faith” meet and connect. The answer given by unbelievers helps to uncover and identify the relative emptiness of their souls and offers guidance on how to recommend filling that void with their only hope for true joy and fulfillment—The One and Only Life-Giver. “For truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One” (v. 3).

If human history/experience proves anything, it proves that fame, wealth, power, success, and luxury are not to be equated with true and lasting joy, happiness, and fulfillment. And to believe that those conditions will produce those results is to believe a deadly lie. Huge amounts of evidence demonstrate that some of the most empty and unhappy people in the world are those who “have it all.”

I printed out what I had written so far above and had Becki read it out loud—asking if she thought it was an acceptable beginning for another little devotional composition. She agreed is was and promptly added, “Let me read now what I just read from Psalm 32.” She did so—and our morning fellowship that we regularly enjoy nearly spilled over into tearful emotion. Let me simply finish up here by quoting that passage—and you can see if it ‘floats your boat’ as well.

A poem of insight and instruction, by King David

  1. "How happy and fulfilled are those whose rebellion has been forgiven, those whose sins are covered by blood.
  2. How blessed and relieved are those who have confessed their corruption to God! For he wipes their slates clean and removes hypocrisy from their hearts.
  3. Before I confessed my sins, I kept it all inside; my dishonesty devastated my inner life, causing my life to be filled with frustration, irrepressible anguish, and misery.
  4. The pain never let up, for your hand of conviction was heavy on my heart. My strength was sapped, my inner life dried up like a spiritual drought within my soul. Pause in his presence
  5. Then I finally admitted to you all my sins, refusing to hide them any longer. I said, “My life-giving God, I will openly acknowledge my evil actions.” And you forgave me! All at once the guilt of my sin washed away and all my pain disappeared! Pause in his presence
  6. This is what I’ve learned through it all: All believers should confess their sins to God; do it every time God has uncovered you in the time of exposing. For if you do this, when sudden storms of life overwhelm, you’ll be kept safe.
  7. Lord, you are my secret hiding place, protecting me from these troubles, surrounding me with songs of gladness! Your joyous shouts of rescue release my breakthrough. Pause in his presence
  8. I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide.
  9. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!”
  10. So my conclusion is this: Many are the sorrows and frustrations of those who don’t come clean with God. But when you trust in the Lord for forgiveness, his wrap-around love will surround you
  11. So celebrate the goodness of God! He shows this kindness to everyone who is his. Go ahead—shout for joy, all you upright ones who want to please him!”
“Here are kingdom revelations, words to live by,
Written as proverbs by Israel’s King Solomon, David’s son.”
Proverbs 1:1 (The Passion Translation)