The Plumbline

Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles. (Thomas Browne) Many of us have dealt with or continue to deal with some manner of 'self-worth', feeling somehow that our 'worth' is really not all that great at times. It might be because we have been told that for so long that we just believe what we are told. I was watching a reality show about Alaska 'bush people' yesterday and what caught my attention was the repeated statement a young man made that basically said if a stupid guy like me can learn this stuff, anyone can. Why do you think he kept referring to himself as stupid or dumb? It is probably because somewhere down the line, he has heard it repeatedly and come to believe it as truth about himself. The 'worth' we have is really never determined by human opinion - it is a God determined fact! But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much. Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new...

But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. At one time you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. In the past you had never received mercy, but now you have received God’s mercy. (I Peter 2:9-10) A chosen people - chosen for a purpose. The purpose? To tell the world about the wonderful acts of God - especially his 'action' of redemption. The 'righting' of the world through the grace we find in Christ Jesus. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we all live in a 'dark place' without Christ. We make decisions that are self-directed, and we don't always make wise ones. With Christ at the center of our lives, we are called to live lives that reflect the light that comes when his grace enters our lives. That 'telling' is our role - but even the empowerment to 'tell' is g...

You, Lord, are my choice, and I will obey you. With all my heart I beg you to be kind to me, just as you have promised. I pay careful attention as you lead me, and I follow closely. As soon as you command, I do what you say. Evil people may set a trap, but I obey your Law. Your laws are so fair that I wake up and praise you in the middle of the night. I choose as my friends everyone who worships you and follows your teachings. Our Lord, your love is seen all over the world. Teach me your laws. (Psalm 119:57-64) The concept of choice is all around us. With so many choices existing today, no wonder we have such a hard time deciding things on occasion. Nothing is harder than making selections when you have so many choices, even when we know exactly what we want. Isn't it good to know the choices in terms of our salvation and daily existence are clear - there is but ONE way to God and that is through his Son, Jesus. There is but ONE God we must obey. There is but ONE God who...

  But the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help those who are troubled and to do good for others. It is always fair and honest. People who work for peace in a peaceful way plant a good crop of right-living. (James 3:17-18) What 'crop' are you planting today? Are you planting actions that reveal a heart 'working for peace'? In today's world, we can see all manner of tensions and upsets. We need godly individuals who will rise up, live peaceable lives, being godly examples that reveal how God's presence in our lives helps us live in peace and with peace.  We cannot live 'in' peace with each other until we are 'at peace' with God.  God's presence in our lives brings a new standard for living, but it is far from just living a 'religious life'. As we begin to be affected by the peace of God within, we begin to operate in the realm of his wisdom and pu...

It’s better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind. (Ecclesiastes 6:9) I enjoy a really good meal, quality time with a close friend, and hugs from my grandsons. I also enjoy rainy days, a good book, and a happy movie. You could probably make a list of things you enjoy, like a sporty car able to zip on down the road with wind blowing wistfully through your hair, or perhaps a long walk on the beach at sunset. Some of what we enjoy is because of where we are or what we possess - the car or beach make the occasion. For others, it is about who we are with that gives us the greatest enjoyment factor. The company I keep makes all the difference in how much I enjoy the moment! I am "single again" - meaning I was married but have been without a spouse since the divorce. These years have done more to "cement" my relationship with Jesus and brought me much enjoyment in the process! I am not advocat...

  Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his wisdom and knowledge and riches! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods!   For who among us can know the mind of the Lord? Who knows enough to be his counselor and guide?   And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce him to act?   For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory. To him be glory evermore. (Romans 11:33-36) When was the last time you stopped to consider the awesomeness of God's protection and intensely focused care over your lives? If it has been a while, today could be a great day to just 'stop' and 'ponder'. There is nothing we do that 'induces' him to act - there is nothing we do to 'keep things in motion' within our lives. All that exists within our lives is the direct result of his overwhelming love and care for us. We partake of his wisdom - through the study of his Word and the exce...

I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. (Romans 7:24-25) Many of us live 'lives of contradiction' - wanting to make right choices, but finding ourselves at the mercy of who knows what making all the wrong ones. If there is one thing I know it is this - the harder we 'try' to live right, the more we find ourselves decisions that are not always right. Why? This walk with Christ isn't meant to be us 'trying' - it is meant to be him empowering us through his Spirit and his Word to make the right decisions.  If we are constantly making wrong moves, does that mean we haven't really invited Christ into our lives? No, i...

  If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice,  I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you.  Point out the road I must travel;   I’m all ears, all eyes before you.  Save me from my enemies,   God — you’re my only hope!  Teach me how to live to please you,   because you’re my God.  Lead me by your blessed Spirit   into cleared and level pastureland. (Psalm 143:8-10) The sound of God's voice - do you know what that is? Do you recognize his still small voice? When we learn to recognize God's voice, there is a certain sense of peace that settles into our hearts. We begin to 'operate' on a different level because we know his guidance will establish our path. All God asks of each of us is that we be 'all ears' when it comes to his voice, and 'closed ears' when it comes to listening to the voice of temptation or evil.  God's greatest delight is for us to desire to live in a manner that pleases him - allowing him to hel...

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. (Psalm 139:13-14) How we come to realize the complexity of our body's structures and systems differs for everyone. Some may discover the uniqueness of their body, how it works, and why each 'part' is so important for the other parts because of illness, while others just discover it through the normal aging process. Bones that moved silently at one time are now creaky and crackle like a bowl of rice cereal. Muscles that once existed on the top of your arms are now like bat wings, jiggling about as you motion with your arms. A heart that once beat without notice may now pound out of your chest with each stair you climb. God made all the 'parts', but the most important part of our body is really our spirit - for it is the place he communes with us...

God, you give true peace to people who depend on you, to those who trust in you. So trust the Lord always, because in the Lord you have a place of safety forever. Honesty is the path good people follow. They follow the path that is straight and true. And God, you make that way smooth and easy to follow. At night my soul longs to be with you, and the spirit in me wants to be with you at the dawn of every new day. (Isaiah 26:3-4, 7, 9) Some of us might equate dependence to some 'bad' way of living in which we cannot do or think anything on our own. Dependence requires more thought and determination than you might first imagine. What some consider to be dependence is nothing more than passive complacency and apathy. What God considers to be dependence is actually a place of active submission and obedience. Obedience requires forethought and continuous thought - passive complacency does not. Obedience requires trust and truth - passive complacency is satisfied with the stat...

It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free. (Romans 7:21-25) A fact of life...that I want to do what is right...but I choose what is wrong. Sound like anybody else's life story? There is a constant struggle of the 'will', isn't there? We find ourselves pulled this way and that, all the while wanting to go just o...

May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other. And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6) Harmony is not achieved by our own merits, for no set of humans actually 'live in harmony' with another set of humans without some form of conflict from time to time. As long as atoms keep crashing together, there will be some form of conflict, BUT...God can bring patience where conflict seems to abound, steadiness where the foundation has begun to crumble, and tremendous encouragement to keep moving toward agreement and peace.  How is complete harmony ever going to happen? Those who have embraced Christ as their Lord and Savior will be at the forefront of peaceful actions. They will bring a steadfastness into the most difficult of circumstances - a peace and assurance that stands w...

When I felt my feet slipping, you came with your love and kept me steady. And when I was burdened with worries, you comforted me and made me feel secure. (Psalm 94:18-19) On ice, the small steps you have to take to avoid having your feet go out from under you, or the slower speeds you must drive in order to avoid a spin-out are "precautionary measures" you PERSONALLY take to keep yourself from loss or injury. There are clearly times when all you can do personally is just not enough to keep you upright and on course, though. Your reliance upon another to be there to catch you when you begin to slip, or the street sanding being ever vigilant is something outside of yourself you are hoping will keep you in a position of safety. We use both internal and external sources to aid in keeping us safe. What we may fail to recognize is the two most important "internal and external" sources of safety at our disposal - the presence and power of God. God expects us to have a...

So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.   For the power of the life-giving Spirit—and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.   We aren’t saved from sin’s grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can’t and don’t keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours—except that ours are sinful—and destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins.   So now we can obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us. (Romans 8:1-4) Obedience is never by our own effort, but we are told to 'follow after' certain things. There are things we need to leave alone, while there are others we need to fully engage in. What do we 'leave alone'? Most will say we leave behind things like smoking, chewing, running with those that do, but it is more tha...

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. (Isaiah 53:4-6) As my pastor read this passage from the NIV yesterday, I was reading along in The Message translation and these words just popped out with such meaning. Read them a couple of times, if you will, and see if God doesn't just speak a bit louder to you about the tremendous gift of grace he has given each of us through the finished work of his Son, Jesus. A couple of things really spoke to me: - It was OUR pains he CARRIED. If the cross wasn...

  A fool thinks he needs no advice, but a wise man listens to others. (Proverbs 12:15) Are you a listener? Do you really 'mull-over' advice when you receive it? Or are you someone who acts impulsively? I have been both, but I find my life is a bit less complicated, with a whole lot less 'mop-up moments' when I listen then act! Some treat God's Word as merely advice, not really giving it the respect it deserves. A wise man will listen to others but will always take the advice received and compare it to the principles taught in the Word. Why? Man's advice may not always 'hit the mark' - we need to ensure that it aligns with God's truth. A fool thinks he has it all figured out, while the wise man will quickly acknowledge it would be foolhardy to just trudge ahead without God's wisdom. Reckless, impetuous, and rash decisions will certainly bring us much woe. Wouldn't it be better to avoid all that heartache and chaotic mess? If we are to act wise...

Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God’s Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. (Philippians 2:1)  Most of us love to receive notice for the hard work we are doing - even if it is not "out loud", we want someone to actually recognize our accomplishments. I enjoy seeing someone take the work I have done and put it into use in their own particular situation. It gives me pleasure to see the work utilized. In our Christian walk, we want to be recognized, have our work serve some purpose, and know what we have done really makes a difference. We don't "do good deeds" simply because we desire the accolades, but we are "serving God" in our deeds, knowing he will receive the ultimate praise in the end. In our daily walk, we receive some accolades from Jesus, and we give them right back. It is like he encourages us by giving us a high five or giving us a pat on the shoulder, as though we have done our job well. It may not be a ...

If   God   doesn’t build the house,   the builders only build shacks. I f   God   doesn’t guard the city,  the night watchman might as well nap. (Psalm 127:1-2) Just a couple of thoughts today as we break down this passage a bit - God must be central in all we set out to accomplish and he must be central in all our relationships. We can 'build and build', all the while not really building of any long-term value. I was able to get some free pallets a while back and decided to break them down into usable pieces that I could build some raised gardens with. They lasted about four years before decay began to make them no longer useful. I had to replace all that hard work with block beds because of the decay. They looked good for a while, but as time went on, the wood didn't hold up to the elements.  There are times when we 'build and build' in our relationships, thinking what we are 'building' is strong and stable, only to find they aren't as 'stable'...

  If you,   God , kept records on wrongdoings,   who would stand a chance?  As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,   and that’s why you’re worshiped. (Psalm 130:3-4) I am more than grateful that God is in this 'habit' of forgiving, how about you? It is more than a 'habit' for God, though. It is part of his internal character - he loves so deeply and without compromise - it is like forgiveness is in his DNA. I am a record-keeper - I like to know what is happening, when, and where. I used to spend a great deal of time 'calendaring', recording, and taking tons of notes. Since I have retired, it is a bit different, but when one is a 'recordkeeper', the chances of something being missed or forgotten are far less likely than when one is not. Scripture doesn't say God doesn't notice, or that he forgets our wrongdoings - it says he doesn't keep a record!  If God kept 'records' on you and me, what might we find recorded there? From a pers...

Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always. (Romans 12:12) How many times are we less than delighted with the plans we see being laid out before us? We might be a little 'okay' with them, but in the long run, they aren't what we really 'wanted', so we end up going along with them, but not whole-heartedly. God isn't always going to lay out plans we are going to jump with joy about. Some of the stuff he asks us to walk through will give us an opportunity to develop trust in his direction, while other stuff will be easy-peasy. It is the stuff we walk through that will eventually develop our character and a deeper trust in his ways that we struggle with the most. Why? It requires us to be patient and that isn't always the easiest reaction to things that give us a little 'trouble' along the way. In fact, we want to either bypass the trouble, or get some kind of instant 'faith boost' to make it through with...

And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will.   And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us. (I John 5:14-15) Yesterday we looked at taking our worries to Christ and allowing him to intervene (taking the weight of those worries as his own). One of the key components of actually allowing this 'transfer of weight' is talking with Jesus about what it is that has us all muddled up on the inside. We have to be open with him in prayer, letting him know specifically what it is that burdens us, and then allow him the opportunity to settle our spirits, minds, and souls. Today, we continue with the thought that he actually listens when we ask him to take on those burdens. Unlike humans, he can shut out the distractions all around him, focusing solely on what it is we are bringing to him in our times of prayerful conversation. Things in line with his...

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4:6-7) If you are anything like me, you have those moments of worry or doubt that plague you from time to time. As much as you want to trust God for the outcome, you just find it hard to let go of the worry. You mull over the stuff until it is a constant nagging in your brain and your heart. A sense of God's wholeness is the furthest thing you are experiencing at that moment, but it is the one thing you long for more than anything. So, how do we go from being so overwhelmed by the circumstances of life to the place where we sense his wholeness in our lives? Maybe it comes when we are finally willing to let God know our concerns, not hol...

Finishing is better than starting.  Patience is better than pride. (Ecclesiastes 7:8) Most of us like the 'finishing' better than the 'starting' part. Why? It means we have reached an end and if the starting was hard, the finishing could be a reward of sorts. We view the finish line as somewhat of a relief, while the starting line can be filled with all manner of anxious thought, fears about what isn't known, and hard steps. We might not be ready for the 'starting line' today, but when we 'begin' something with God, we are sure to appreciate the reward at the 'finish line'. The parts in between the start and the finish are what require us to have patience. Maybe that is why it makes the start so hard for us at times. We don't want the 'middle part' of the journey as much as we want the 'finishing part'. The stuff that happens in the middle part of the journey is what makes the journey worthwhile, though. It isn't just ...

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!" (Job 19:25-27) One of my favorite worship songs is "My Redeemer Lives" by Hillsong Worship. Some of my favorite words in those lyrics are, "My shame, He's taken away, My pain is healed in His name", as they speak volumes about how God works in our lives. Job was plagued by the loss of family, livestock, worldly possessions, and even his own health. Yet, in the moments of his greatest external and internal conflict, he stands assured his Redeemer lives and all will one day be well again in his life. He has been buffeted by everything that should have 'taken him down', but he stands!  We might find ourselves buffeted by what life throws our way, but we can stand strong in the knowledge that nothing we ...

Long enough, God—you’ve ignored me long enough. I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me. Take a good look at me, God, my God; I want to look life in the eye, so no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face. I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—I’m celebrating your rescue. I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers. (Psalm 13) Most of us have some capacity for endurance, whether it be with the distance we walk, the amount of waiting we can tolerate, or the pain we are willing to experience before we resort to a means of relief. "Long enough" is not a measure which is the same for each of us, but rather is a unique measure based on where we are emotionally, physically, spiritually, and even "relationally". Sometimes our "long enough" is shortened becau...

In considering events in the lives of those who have known fame and fortune, we also must consider just how fame and fortune has left them wanting so much more than it ever promised or provided. Fame and fortune are elusive - they keep those who pursue either of them running toward them as if under their spell. They are also disappointing - leaving those who finally "achieve" their end wanting more, but not really satisfied with what they have! Sound familiar to anyone other than me? Wanting more that what we have, chasing what seems to have us under some "spell" or external "control"? We may not be pursuing fame in the sense of the movie stars, but we may be pursuing something with as much tenacity - something which will not truly bring us any satisfaction once attained. A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart, but a principled life can stand up to the worst. (Proverbs 11:4) Life WILL fall apart at some point. Whatever we place our trust in...