Marching Forth!

While at Camp Kedron I had an amusing interaction with a camper.  Kids who did not bring Bibles were loaned a Bible for the duration of camp.  A older primary-aged girl came up to me and asked for a different Bible.  "Could I have a different Bible?  This one is old."  I glanced to see what version of Bible it was and found it was a contemporary English version.  Then I guessed what prompted her request:  that she noticed there was an Old Testament and she nodded.  I told her, "This Bible is perfectly fine for you.  In fact, you need to have the Old Testament to better understand the New Testament."  We live in a world where "old" is synonymous with "outdated" and "irrelevant," yet the the Old Testament contains fresh truth for those who glean among those ancient passages. Today I read when God changed Abram's name to Abraham and made a covenant with him.  The first covenant God made with Abram required the sacrifice of animals t...

Words and events that impact us provoke prolonged consideration later.  This can happen sometimes when we read the Bible.  Like a person not content to look at an item behind glass and asks to hold it in their hands for closer examination, we can turn Bible passages over in our minds.  We consider the context and wonder why people said what they did.  I've been thinking over a case concerning what Abram did after God enabled him and his household servants to defeat kings and deliver Lot from their hands. Genesis 14:18-20 reads, " Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19  And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20  and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of all ."  Abram and his 318 servants pursued 5 victorious kings during the night and defeated them completely....

A camper last week described his intentional effort to show self-control with his tongue.  His statement reminded me of myself when I was that age, measuring success primarily off what I avoided doing:  "I have only sworn twice all year!"  I commend the lad's efforts to stop cursing.  Jesus taught the words we use reveals the truth of the condition of our hearts, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks ( Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45 ).  Trying to cease cursing with our mouths is futile without a change of mind and heart by God's grace. When I heard the young man's comment I recalled the responsibility of believers not only to avoid sin but to do good, to speak the truth in love.  Better than avoiding gossip our words ought to encourage; rather than harsh censure we can edify others with gracious words.  Realising the Christian walk is more about doing good than avoiding evil was a revelation from God.  The call to self-control g...

After the earth began to be repopulated by people after the flood, the people banded together in Shinar.  They decided to make bricks, build a great city with a tower that reached to heaven, and make a name for themselves so they would not be scattered across the earth.  God knew their plans and decided to miraculously disrupt them and bring about exactly what they worked to prevent.   Genesis 11:7-8 reads, " Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city ."  The name of the unfinished tower was called "Babel" because it was the place God confounded the languages of the people. The inability to understand one another ended the singleness of mind and purpose the people once shared.  Without anyone to translate what they said and meant their efforts turned into a ruin.  This in...