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Day 14, In Memory: Dr. R. C. Sproul

Luke 1:67-79
67  And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68  “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people

69  and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

70  as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

71  that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

72  to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,

73  the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

74  that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,

75  in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76  And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

77  to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,

78  because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

79  to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”




When someone comes along in our lives and serves us in our mind, in our soul, in our faith, we cling to them as long as we can.  At times friends, mentors, teachers move away (or we do) and distance separates us from face to face times.  Still, our friendship and desire for closeness never leave us.

As I read this passage this morning I could not help but think about the death this week of Dr. R. C. Sproul.  He was a distant teacher, mentor, example to me.  I've listened to him teach hundreds of times.  He was a careful expositor, a lover of God's word.  He was a brilliant theologian and I dare say it would be difficult, even impossible, to find holes in his arguments.  Most of all, he was a lover of God, his Son Jesus Christ, and the work of the Spirit in the church and world.

To those who have never read him, I say you do not know what you're missing.  To those who have sat at his feet and been taught by him, you feel what I feel...an empty chair saddens me.
Still, Dr. Sproul would remind us:  We grieve - not as ones who have no hope - but as ones who know that one day we also will enter into our eternal rest.

By the way, "Renewing Your Mind" which served as Dr. Sproul's teaching platform to me for years, had planned six months before that the radio broadcast for the day of his death would be Dr. Sproul's teaching on "Entering His Eternal Rest".  For those of us who rest in God's providence there are no coincidences.

Peace

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