Marching Forth!

One of the benefits of having money in a bank account is to have a percentage added for interest.  It is a basic way to have money "working" for you while at the same time is secure and insured.  While adding to wealth is desirable, multiplying wealth is even more appealing.  Why add when you can multiply and earn faster? During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus mentioned how people tend to worry about their lives, what they will eat, drink or wear.  Because born again Christians have God as our Father in heaven, we ought not to worry like others do about an uncertain future because God will supply all our needs.   Matthew 6:33 said, " But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you ."  All the things we need are found in God who has created us, given us eternal life and all things which pertain to life and godliness.  It is in knowing God and the promises of His word that build and strengthen our ...

" Thus says the LORD : "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,  l et not the mighty man glory in his might,  n or let the rich man glory in his riches;  24  but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD , exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD ." Jeremiah 9:23-24 This passage has a two-fold emphasis for me today:  God can be known, and it is possible to glory in many things rather than knowing Him.  Even in the days of Law and the Old Testament, God revealed Himself to all in the earth by the great things He had done.  Though unapproachable in glory, God provided evidence for man to seek and know Him.  He created mankind with the ability to reason and ponder, with curiosity and an unquenchable thirst to learn, explore and discover. The prophet Jeremiah addressed this discourse to the children of Israel who had turned from th...

How important it is for God's people to fear Him and walk in His ways!  In our age of grace under the New Covenant it is possible our familiarity could lead to lack of reverence.  There were occasions in scripture when people acted presumptuously and paid a heavy price for it.  The situations recounted to us in the Bible remind us of God's holiness and man's tendency to forget our unworthiness to approach Him. After the ark of God was brought into battle by Hophni and Phinehas, it was taken by the Philistines and set in the house of their god, Dagon.  Twice the image of Dagon fell prostrate before the ark of God, and a great plague broke out among the people.  For 7 months the ark was moved through the major cities of the Philistines, and death and destruction followed it.  The ark was returned to Israel on an unmanned cart drawn by two cows who made their way straight to Beth Shemesh.  The people rejoiced to see the ark, the cart was chopped up for wo...

A book I read recently related a concept I have heard many times before:  " Your worth is so great that if you had been the only person created upon the earth, God still would have sent His Son to die for you.  You count that much to Him ."  The authors went on to say, " In your relationship with the Son of God, you are assured of worthiness ." (Wright, H. Norman, and Wes Roberts. Before You Say "I Do ". Harvest House Publishers, 2019. page 43.)  I cannot discern the intent of the authors, but to go from saying we have worth (value) to God to saying we have worthiness is a common error which undermines our need for God's grace. To claim one has "worth" is different from claiming "worthiness."  Worth designates the value of something, while "worthy" means " deserving; such as merits; having worth or excellence ."  A fine line we must not cross is the suggestion because God values us we are in the slightest worthy ...