Marching Forth!

Friends are a blessing from God, and cultivating friendship requires individual effort as well.  As it is written in  Proverbs 18:24 , " A man who has friends must himself be friendly, b ut there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother ."  We are not "close" to brothers and sisters by virtue of having the same parents, sharing a room, or having grown up together.  We can be distant or detached from people who live in the same house as we do!  But if we want friends, it falls to us to be the kind of friend we would appreciate ourselves.  Friendship is not restricted to a handful, for even Jesus called His disciples friends.  If Jesus was not above cultivating friendship with sinners, let us not be so proud to scorn friendship with others - especially of the household of faith. This morning I read through a list of notable people during his reign in Jerusalem.  Here is portion of the list in  1 Chronicles 27:32-34 :  " Also Jehon...

Faithful to His promise, God gave His people victory over Jericho.  God commanded the spoils of the fallen city to be brought into the treasury of the LORD.  Anyone who took of the gold, silver, or articles of brass or iron would bring upon themselves a curse.  All the Israelites who stormed the city were obedient to God's command - all except one.  The Bible tells us Achan the son of Carmi took of the treasures for himself and stashed them in his tent. All seemed well as the congregation set their eyes on overthrowing Ai, a small city in comparison to Jericho.  When the men of Israel went up to battle against Ai, however, the Israelites fled before their enemies.  36 men died in the assault, and the men retreated back to camp and Joshua their commander.  Joshua and the elders tore their clothes in grief and put dust on their heads for the remainder of the day.  How could this be?  Why had God brought them this far to allow them to be defe...

I was impacted recently by words David spoke to his son Solomon.  The passage of God's Word exposed my own sin, bringing to light a connection I was previously blind to.  This revelation also illustrates the power of words, how we can use them to justify ourselves.  An Australian politician recently said, "I'm not a saint" yet this is hardly a revelation.  This statement really says nothing because most everyone would also say it of themselves.  Had he said, "I am a liar and an adulterer" that is saying something! Christians know they shouldn't worry, so some will avoid saying they are worrying.  They will use a different word, like they are "concerned."  Christians also know they should not be afraid because God commands us to " Fear not !" and trust Him.  Joshua, Solomon, and many others in scripture were told to "Fear not" because it was their natural tendency.  Guess what?  It is our tendency too - and that includes m...

When I assisted the coach on my eldest son's soccer team, we had a fun-loving bunch of kids with heaps of energy.  Often they were so hyped up during training they were incapable of focusing on simple drills.  During coach orientation we were told it was potentially "abusive" to single out a single player for discipline, so if one player was made to run a lap around the ground for messing around the entire team was also required to run.  The team did a lot of extra running that year, but I'm not sure they learned the discipline running was intended to teach.  Because their energy was often misdirected they didn't play up to their potential. I have heard Christians (jokingly and seriously) say they have been told to "take another lap" by God because they have not yet learned a necessary lesson.  Personally I have never used the analogy, and I find the implications of this perspective concerning.  It runs the risk of placing the emphasis on our measurin...