Marching Forth!

Travelling to my hometown brings back memories, and most of them are good.  It is enjoyable to visit with family and friends, reminiscing over what has happened in the past and catching up to the present.  As I was driving yesterday I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone years ago I have repented of many times.  I regretted something I said almost immediately, and it was a good lesson of how words hastily spoken cannot be taken back. As I considered the situation that transpired decades ago, I was struck by how this could be termed a "pet regret."  It was something I have regretted and repented of who knows how many times, yet dwelling upon it leads me back to the familiar feelings of sorrow and wishing it could be undone.  I know based upon the word of God He forgives sin as it is written in  1 John 1:9 :  " If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ."  My tran...

Zechariah 7 details an interaction of men who came to the house of God to pray and to inquire of the priests if they ought to continue fasting and mourning in the fifth and seventh months as had been their annual tradition during exile.  God answered with questions of His own in  Zechariah 7:5-6 :  " Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me--for Me?  6 When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?"   The people embraced months of fasting and mourning but neglected to honour and obey God when they ate and drank every day.  They lamented being driven from their homeland but did not praise the God who had never left or forsaken them. These men came to the priests because they found the periods of fasting and mourning burdensome--even unnecessary after their return to Jerusalem.  They wonder...

I have encountered what seems to me a strange phenomenon over the years:  a readiness to speak of the sublime glory of heaven but a reluctance among believers to frankly discuss the horrible reality of hell.  We do not hesitate to warn our children of the dangers of running into traffic or grabbing a hot frypan because we care for them, and thus to avoid discussions of hell which the Bible describes as real and forever as heaven is to embrace hypocrisy.  It is the love of God and others which compels us to answer honest questions about hell directly without sidestepping to ignore the subject. I can understand how many Christians want to avoid being associated with a style of "hell and brimstone" preaching that gleefully and smugly condemns lost sinners to a tortured existence.  They would rather extol the pleasures of eternity in the presence of God than emphasising the horrors of hell.  There is nothing wrong with this.  But to avoid the topic of hell as ...

" Then the Angel of the LORD answered and said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?"  13  And the LORD answered the angel who talked to me, with good and comforting words ." Zechariah 1:12-13 The LORD is merciful, gracious and compassionate regardless of the circumstances of life we face.  Faith in God according to His word sustains us to endure the most troubling situations.  The children of Israel struggled during 70 years of captivity in Babylon, and even angels wondered how long judgment would be poured out on the people and Jerusalem and Judah for their sins.  The good and comforting answer of God spoke volumes, for He remained merciful even in judgment. The prophet mused from the belly of the great fish in  Jonah 2:8 , " Those who regard worthless idols f orsake their own Mercy ."  And they had.  The children of Israel filled the...