Marching Forth!

Yesterday I finished The Third Option by Miles McPherson, pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego, California.  It was a thoroughly engaging, thought-provoking read.  Living as an immigrant and now dual-citizen of Australia gave me much more to consider than simply race relations in the United States, as a person who identifies as White living as a foreigner.  Here it is not so much the colour of my skin but my birthplace and accent which sets me apart. The primary value of the book for me was to explore my own biases regarding identity and race.  Growing up I always felt like my perspective didn't matter because I was part of the privileged majority who could never understand or appreciate the struggles of others.  Maybe all that is true.  But praise be to God all people can be loving, gracious, and accepting of others on account of how God has accepted us.  Living in a foreign land has taught me many valuable lessons, enriched my life, and given m...

We've been studying through Hosea at Calvary Chapel Sydney on Sundays and I happen to be in the book of Amos for my morning devotions, a prophet who was a contemporary of Hosea.  Because the northern kingdom of Israel had rebelled from God, severe judgment was coming.  Israel resembled a stubborn heifer who refused to budge, so God would put her in the position of a vulnerable lamb in open country.  The fall of Israel at the hand of her enemies was a tragic consequence for her sin. Amos 3:11-12 says, " Therefore thus says the Lord GOD : "An adversary shall be all around the land;  h e shall sap your strength from you,  a nd your palaces shall be plundered." 12  Thus says the LORD : "As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion  t wo legs or a piece of an ear,  s o shall the children of Israel be taken out  w ho dwell in Samaria--i n the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch !"  The people of the northern kingdom vainly ...

In preparing for this week's message at Calvary Chapel Sydney, I came across a quote from Matthew Henry that impacted me:  " Carnal hearts, in time of trouble, see their sickness, but do not see the sin that is the cause of it ." (Matthew Henry Concise, pg. 11112)  This insight is easily verified in our own lives, for it is easier for us to describe our negative symptoms to a doctor than to know for certain the cause our malady.  We may have theories about how or when we contacted a virus, but the fact we would even go to a doctor shows our need for help in treatment. God spoke through Hosea the prophet concerning His people in  Hosea 5:13 , " When Ephraim saw his sickness, a nd Judah saw his wound,  t hen Ephraim went to Assyria  a nd sent to King Jareb;  y et he cannot cure you,  n or heal you of your wound ."  Ephraim and Judah were able to see their symptoms, but they did not seek healing in God.  They vainly went to the k...

I saw an article the other day concerning "hands models" who make their living by posing for advertisements.  One of the photos shown struck me as a microcosm of the phoniness of this world and the things of it:  what is portrayed as reality isn't always the case. As I considered the picture later, I thought of the message it conveys:  a model with a pretty face doesn't always have the hands to match the flawless ideal, and the model with photogenic hands doesn't have the face the advertiser wants.  The world has set up a facade to worship, an impossible ideal to measure up to.  What is considered beautiful today can be cast off as old or ugly tomorrow.  We chase perfection without hope, for even those who have lovely hands are not judged to have the face to match.  Change our appearance as we might, there always remains in us a flaw beyond our grasp. This is where Jesus Christ meets us in spite of our imperfections.  He does not seek us o...