Marching Forth!

Years ago I enjoyed fishing for largemouth bass at Loveland Reservoir in Alpine, California.  It was one of the only lakes in San Diego county that was free to fish as long as you held a valid fishing license--but fishing did come at a cost.  From memory it was about a 20 minute hike to access the water, and when your return to your vehicle it was all uphill and tiring!  While the fishing at the reservoir could be excellent, I had a series of many consecutive trips over the span of a year that did not result in a single bite.  Based on my repeated experiences of catching nothing, I felt like I might as well practice casting into a backyard pool.  Fishing and catching are two different things, and I prefer catching.  If there is no catching involved, why go fishing? After Jesus rose from the dead, one night Peter and other disciples decided to go fishing.  The Sea of Galilee was literally at Peter's doorstep, and he had a boat, tackle and experience....

After King David sinned, the God of Israel rebuked him through the prophet Nathan.  It struck me when God who anointed David and delivered him from King Saul said in  2 Samuel 12:8 , " I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more !"  It was God who made David king, and David's sin in the matter of Bathsheba and Urijah expressed hatred of God's word ( 2 Sam. 12:9 ), hatred of God ( 2 Sam. 12:10 ) and lack of contentment with all God had generously provided.  How gracious God is, that He is willing to give freely to those who do not always appreciate or honour Him. As I meditated on this passage, it dawned on me how it would be very easy as a king to sin as David did or as King Saul before him.  It was not long after being anointed king Saul was lifted up in pride.  Suddenly everyone sought his favour because of th...

When we consider purchasing a product, we want to know if it really works--if it can deliver on the promises made.  If I buy a cleaning product for tiles, the BBQ or an oven, I want it to do the job well.  There are many products advertised that are a waste of money, and sometimes we learn this the hard way.  So we watch demonstrations, read online reviews and talk to people with experience to know what brands or products will suit our needs.  We want to be convinced of all the benefits of a product  before we pay money so we can avoid regrets. I am always a bit leery when people pitch Christianity to others like knives at a fair on the basis of how coming to Christ has benefitted them.  While there are countless practical and spiritual benefits of knowing God and having a relationship with Him through faith, Jesus Christ is not for sale.  Jesus is not a product we have obtained that we recommend to others because He has made our lives easier or simpl...

Because all sin is equally deadly to the soul guilty of committing it, there is not much of a point of arbitrarily categorising sins like some do with lies.  From a biblical perspective, there is no such thing as a "little" or "white" lie.  God identifies all lying as abominable in His sight full stop, and to think we can benefit ourselves or practically help others by lying to them is a deception.  To claim we have chosen to lie out of the goodness of our hearts is plain hypocrisy.  There are many sinful things people justify themselves doing and saying, but God's righteous standards do not sway with societal tendencies. While it may not provide great benefit for us to comparatively rank sins against one another--as we are called to do good rather deferring to a lesser sin--there are a handful of occasions where the Scripture does speak of one sin being greater than another.  Since God has provided this knowledge, it would be wise for us to consider why that is...

God reveals in Scripture idols are an unnecessary burden.  For all who are in Christ, if you find yourself burdened by anything it may be you have made an idol of something!  This fact struck me yesterday as I read Isaiah 46 and how the idols of Babylon were dead weight that needed to be hauled around.  Though they were spiritually powerless and nothing, unable to hear the cries of worshippers or save them, they wearied those who struggled to carry them.   Isaiah 46:1-2 says, " Bel bows down, Nebo stoops;  t heir idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded,  a  burden to the weary beast.  2 They stoop, they bow down together; t hey could not deliver the burden,  b ut have themselves gone into captivity ."  It is ironic beasts that grew weary pulling heavy idols had more strength than the gods of Babylon which were useless and hopeless. Later in the chapter God showed the futility of idolatr...

It's funny the things we can take for granted.  We can tend to group people together and imagine they are similar--when they are completely different.  I remember when it hit home I wrongly had the assumption all medical doctors must be averse to practices that are known to be unhealthy, and it was eye-opening to realise doctors are still regular people who do what they want.  Anyone who has hired a contractor knows all licensed plumbers, electritians, concreters and tilers are not the same.  Years back I hired a plumbing outfit to install a drain for a coffee machine, and after trips to the supplier and many hours of labour the drain was not properly installed or functioning.  Later that night another plumber from the same company came, installed the drain--and removed and installed a water heater--in a fraction of the time. This illustration can be extended to include nearly everything:  dogs of the same breed, trees of the same kind, and fruit of a sin...