Marching Forth!

" A man who has friends must himself be friendly, b ut there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother ." Proverbs 18:24 The friend you desire is the friend you ought to be to others.  C.S. Lewis wrote something profound in his book The Four Loves :  " The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends ." (Martindale, Wayne, and Jerry Root. The Quotable Lewis . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2005. page 236)  If all you want is a friend - like a child who is glad to have a neighbour for an hour and then for them to go home - then it should be no surprise you find friendship rare.  Friends are not a commodity to possess but a fellow to walk alongside and encourage through life.  Yet if a person offers intimacy and accepts others with the same love reserved for family, this is a friend worth having.  Friendship is a gift of God we can cultivate which knits hearts together with a connection truer than that o...

In many aspects of our Christian walk before God we bear a degree of responsibility.  Knowing this, it is possible we might begin to place more emphasis on our efforts or knowledge and create a subtle shift from simple faith in God.  It is true knowledge of God and His Word is intrinsic to faith and obedience, yet we are compared to one currently seeing a dim reflection of reality.  Even when we are able to view a picture or video in High Definition it could only portray a fraction of the details which could be known:  what led to the scene, the people involved, the outcome, and the future. I am blessed God has plans, purposes, and the miraculous ability to perform them all in His way and time.  God declared through the prophet in  Isaiah 46:9-11 , " Remember the former things of old, f or I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10  declaring the end from the beginning, a nd from ancient times things that are not ...

Following Jesus Christ as LORD and Saviour totally transforms our perspective.  Faith in God is not intended to be an isolated part of our lives but practically impact everything.  This goes far beyond our beliefs or thoughts but plays out daily in the way we respond. Last night I turned on the rugby all-star clash between the New Zealand and Indigenous Australian teams.  After seeing the Kiwis belt out their national anthem with gusto as one, I was saddened to see the Indigenous players strangely silent whilst "Advance Australia Fair" was played.  It seems I was not the only one who noticed, as it was addressed in an opinion piece on the NRL website and an article on 9 News .  According to the article, the Australian captain responded when asked about the silence, saying "... he didn’t believe the song represented himself or his family and the lyrics embodied a different message to Indigenous people. It just brings back so many memories from what's happened...

I've been reading a compilation of quotes by C.S. Lewis lately and have been enjoying it.  I was especially intrigued by the section on Democracy, and his insights focused through a God-honouring lens are worthy of consideration today.  This is one of my favourites, quoted from an essay written in 1943 titled "Equality": " I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man.  I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason.  A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government.  The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true...I find that they're not true without looking further than myself.  I don't deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation...The real reason for democracy is...Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked po...