Marching Forth!

Years ago our family had a little dachshund named Wendel.  He slept in a kennel inside the house, but the backyard was his domain.  When I mowed the lawn I was able to easily discern where his little paws had been, paths which become well-worn over time as he patrolled the perimeter.  He had a routine of running along the fence, stopping at a point and barking, then heading back on his circuit. Wendel and people alike can be creatures of habit and routine, and even our brains resort to common tracks of thought.  A single word or feeling can place our thinking like a slot car onto a track, destined to circle the same closed loop again and again.  We can become so taken with a particular observation or personal conviction we become entrenched in our thinking and are quite unable (and even unwilling!) to consider another view as equally valid.  Some people's thoughts resemble a simple oval and others are more elaborate with multiple lanes and loops, but the r...

I love the story of when Jesus was eating dinner in Bethany ( Matt. 26:6-13 ) and Mary came to see Him.  She carried with her a valuable alabaster flask of perfume which some have estimated to be worth a man's wages for a year.  She broke the flask and poured it on the head of Jesus as an act of worship.  True worship must cost the worshipper something.  It will come with the cost of time, money, the sacrifice of other things, and obedience.  Worship is not the singing of songs - though we can worship through songs - but worship of God is acts of adoration by faith for God's glory. Mary's gift was accepted by Jesus, and He said her act would be spoken of wherever the Gospel is preached. It is not necessary for Christians to burn money or pour out expensive fragrances for our prayers and praises to be accepted by God.  He is not like the idols formed by man's hands which demand much but give nothing.  God has freely provided for us all, and our worsh...

I have completed reading The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton and was impressed by his unique insights.  One point he makes strongly in the last chapters is how Christianity is distinct from all other religions and worldviews.  As different as human beings are to plants, so is Jesus Christ and His claims unique from all others.  Jesus did not call people to religion but to life, and this life could only be found in Himself.  His resurrection from the dead is also unique, without parallel in the history of the world.  The fact Jesus did not remain dead and His followers still continue strong in this age of reason is troubling to many.  It has been attacked by atheists, strangled by legalism, debated by scholars, scorned by intellectuals, and discarded by the inoculated.  And yet Christ lives on.  Chesterton wrote, " These people are quite prepared to shed pious and reverential tears over the Sepulchre of the Son of Man; what they are not prepar...

In my morning Bible reading, a statement by Jesus arrested my attention.  The passage listed occasions when those who doubted and hated Jesus sought to entrap Him in His words.  The Herodians, Pharisees, and Sadducees were groups who attempted to make Jesus look ignorant with their moral dilemmas and hypothetical debates, but they could not stump Jesus.  In response to the Sadducees, who only exposed their ignorance by taking their best shot at Jesus, the KJV rendering of  Matthew 22:29 reads, " Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God ."  It is ironic how the Sadducees would have claimed extensive knowledge of the scriptures, but Jesus whom they desired to expose as ignorant expressed this of them.  Their lack of belief in things spiritual left them severely hamstrung.  Their doubts left them wanting in both knowledge of the scriptures and experience of God's power. What struck me as I read the...