2016 picture of Ray Sparre

Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67



Tuesday, Sept 21, 2021

Good morning, Zane.

It was beautiful last night before retiring with the full moon so big and bright in the eastern sky. And it’s a beautiful morning with a clear sky and the treed skyline giving promise of a beautiful day. It sure is easy to worship when one understands WHO is responsible for it all.

I guess I don’t have time for a jog now at this late hour—since both Becki and I are scheduled for our annual physicals with our doctor this morning. Then I need to get back to busy with a bunch of sawmill work, etc

Be blessed today. Love and prayers. Tua/Ray.


21 September
Colossians 1:24-2:5
Focus: “…the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

I sure don’t have to look far to find mysteries—things I know are real, but are way beyond my comprehension as to HOW and WHY they are real. Take something so commonplace as life itself, for example. Does anyone really understand fully HOW a mixture of water and rock (minerals…you know, like “the dust of the earth”) can be infused with this mysterious something-or-other that makes it live? This reality is so incredibly mysterious that “smarty pants” scientists CANNOT reproduce on purpose, try as they will, what they claim “nature” has produced by accident! It adds support to my conclusion that the core of what we call NATURAL is, in fact, SUPERNATURAL. And WHY anyone would choose (I think it really does boil down to a choice) to not recognize this fact is a mystery in itself!

Let me hassle your thinking further by asking you (or anyone, for that matter) WHY and HOW the atom works? Science has helped us to understand a little—that electrons, protons, and neutrons orbit a nucleus—but HOW and WHY? What makes it work? There has to be something going on there that transcends physicality.

May I suggest that the best beginning point for answering these kinds of questions is tucked away in our “FOCUS” verse of yesterday: “…all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17)? And do you remember that just before that verse, we read, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…” (1:16)? So may I also suggest that we are touching on a CORE FACT of the tangible visible world around us—that it is, in TRUTH, the very intangible invisible SPIRIT OF GOD (Christ) that makes it all HOLD TOGETHER!? There is no way we can absolutely prove this FACT scientifically—but HOW CAN IT BE OTHERWISE?!

Can you see where I’m going with this? You don’t have to fully understand the mystery of life in order to be alive. You don’t have to fully understand the mystery of atoms to be made of them and participate with them. And you don’t have to fully understand the mystery of being spiritually “born again” and being filled with a measure of the Spirit of Christ in order to participate in this wonderful and essential provision by an awesome loving God! The important thing to know is that IT WORKS? Paul testifies that this real spiritual “energy” of Christ “powerfully works in me” (1:29).

Please, by all means, let us respond the RIGHT way to “this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” It’s our ONLY HOPE!

“The business of faith is to believe things that are out of sight.”