Marching Forth!

It is amazing how God has graced mere men with His presence.  God has made a way for us to enter into His presence, and for His presence to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit.  Paul wrote of what Jesus accomplished in  Ephesians 2:18-22 :  " For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit ."  Along with all followers of Christ, we are individually and collectively a dwelling place of God. How remarkable, that God would dwell with and in men!  For all who have tasted and have seen God is good forever chang...

One thing I find remarkable about God is the freedom of choice He grants to all people He has created.  Some wonder if God is loving because of what He allows, but it is precisely by allowing He shows His love and grace.  In this world overwhelmed with sin, hypocrisy, and hopelessness, it is the stark contrast of God's goodness which leads us to Him. Remember the parable of the prodigal son?  The son demanded his inheritance of his father, and his father complied without complaint.  His father could have decided to "do what is best" for his son by denying his request, but in his generosity - knowing beforehand the poor decisions he would make with "his" money - the father gave the money and all rights to it to the son he loved.  That is a picture of what God has done in giving us life.  He gives life to people who will wrongly use it to hurt others and ruin themselves, but He freely gives life anyway.  It might be, like the prodigal son, when we are...

" My Father has been working until now, and I have been working ." - Jesus Christ, quoted from John 5:17 It is Labour Day in New South Wales, a welcome day of respite from labours.  That is not to say it isn't a good day for working - like washing the cars and vacuuming them.  Labour is work, and would you agree "work" has largely a negative connotation?  We say things like, "I had to work on the weekend" or say a decision created "extra work."  If we can manage with less work, most people are happy with the concept. God has been working until now, Jesus was working, and it is fair to say a follower of Jesus should work too - and be happy and grateful for it.  After God created Adam, He put him to work keeping and tending the Garden of Eden.  It wasn't because God chose to delegate work He couldn't handle, but because work is something God does and loves to do.  No one made God work, but God has been working until now. ...

C.H. Spurgeon wisely said concerning sceptics who prefer to remain sceptical, " Our business is not to supply men with arguments by informing them of difficulties...Unbelievers only 'glean their blunted shafts, and shoot them at the shield of truth again.' Our object is not to conquer them in logical encounters, but to save their souls ." (Spurgeon, C. H. Lectures to my Students . Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan Publishing House, 1989. pg. 270)  Today I read a passage in 1 Samuel which illustrates this tendency to hold onto faulty ideas and idols well. The Philistines had captured the ark of God in battle and placed it in the temple of their god, Dagon.   1 Samuel 5:3 says, " And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the LORD . So they took Dagon and set it in its place again ."  During the night, the idol Dagon fell before the ark of God.  Instead of ditching their god whic...