Marching Forth!

Retiring from regular work is difficult for many people.  At the age of 70 my grandpa gave me his perspective on the matter:  " When you retire, you're just waiting around to die ."  Believe it or not, he continued to run his own business laying carpet well into his 80's.  Many times I had colleagues during my mechanical insulation career who excitedly retired because they were finally of retiring age, just to see them return 6 months later because they missed the routine and extra money.  There were only so many projects left on their houses and fishing wasn't the outlet they hoped it would be. Though I am God-willing decades from retirement (at this point it will be when God retires me!), I find it a great challenge to take my leave of pastoral ministry for weeks at a time.  When I do take leave, church related responsibilities seem to find me.  If I am asked to take weeks of my paid leave, it feels like a demand to leave family and the thing God...

Jesus ushered in a new covenant through His shed blood which is far better.  The first covenant depended largely on man's ability to live according to the Law, but grace and truth came through Jesus.  Circumcision was required to submit to the first, but see what Paul (a man circumcised according to the Law) said in  1 Corinthians 7:19 :  " Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters." Hold on, some might wonder:  circumcision is a commandment of God.  Is Paul talking out of both sides of his mouth?  Not at all!  God wrote with His finger commands upon tablets of stone, but He promised to one day write His laws upon hearts.  After trusting in Jesus Paul continued to keep the Law of Moses so he would retain credibility amongst the Jews to win them for Christ.  But God did not provide salvation through faith in Jesus for Gentiles to live as Jews.  The lack of Law does...

As enjoyable and pleasant as like-minded people can be, it is good to have people in our lives which look at life from a different perspective.  I have grown to value differences more as I progress through life:  instead of assuming differences due to ignorance, threatening, or a liability, a variety of viewpoints helps us to see the limitations of our view and thus works to expand our thoughts to unfamiliar arenas. The late C.S. Lewis was asked in an interview by a Mr. Wirt:  " Do you think there will be wide-spread travel in space ?"  I found his answer interesting, partially because he did not bother to deal with the question directly at all.  He said, " I look forward with horror to contact with the other inhabited planets, if there are such.  We would only transport to them all of our sin and our acquisitiveness, and establish a new colonialism.  I can't bear to think of it.  Bit if we on earth were to get right with God, of course, all wo...

" For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13  For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit ." 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 It struck me today with fresh intensity the wonder of the Gospel, that sinners through faith in Jesus Christ are made saints.  Having trusted in Christ as Saviour we are spiritually regenerated - born again - by the Holy Spirit who takes up residence in us.  We are in this moment, Paul explained, "... baptised into one body ," the church of which Jesus Christ is Head.  His Body is comprised on many members with various roles which all work to edify the Body and glorify their Head.  This is the first of several baptisms mentioned in scripture. Christians have been spiritually been baptised into the Body through faith, and in obedience to the comman...