The Plumbline

What does the Lord your God really want from you? The Lord your God wants you to respect him and do what he says. He wants you to love him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So obey the laws and commands of the Lord that I am giving you today. These laws and commands are for your own good. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13) I like it when scripture actually poses the question and then follows with a very clear answer. There is nothing vague about what God wants from us, is there? Love him! Give him your entire heart! Serve him from the heart! Put you entire being into your actions of obedience! Do what he says all the time, not just when it pleases us. Pretty plain instruction indeed. How does one show respect for God? It begins by getting to know who he is and then it continues as we step out in obedience to the things he asks of us. It begins by listening - really paying close attention to his still small voice. As we recognize his power and his sovereign ...

God made all things. And everything continues through him and for him.  (Romans 11:36) God made all things - from the sand at the seashore to the hair on your head. Nothing exists without him. His breathe gave us life and his breathe sustains that life. His blood brings us into his family and his blood ensures we are cleansed of all manner of sin. His word puts all things into motion and sustains all things in perfect order. All things are in his care and under his careful watch - including you! Everything continues - telling words that indicate we don't just "come to Christ" and stagnate! We continue to grow in grace. Can we become something greater than what he calls us to be in his kingdom? Nope, but some will still try to remake their own lives even when the God who made and sustains all things provided all they need to grow in grace. The grace is a gift, but the growth must be intentional. We must press into his grace each day in order to grow in it. It isn't tha...

I remember you while lying on my bed. I think about you in the middle of the night. That is because you are the one who helps me. It makes me happy to be under your protection! I stay close to you, and you hold me with your powerful arm. (Psalm 63:6-8) There are many ways to remember God, aren't there? We can do something quit formal such as journaling his accomplishments in our lives, or raising our hands in corporate worship. In the stillness of the night hours there are times when his goodness and grace will just flood in. In those moments, the praise is a little less like raising hands and voices in corporate worship, but more of a stillness and peace that just overwhelms you. Did you realize settling into that peace is actually one way we bring praise to him? God's work in our lives is evident in big ways, such as when he helps us avoid a car wreck, but he is also working when we may not even see it. In the stillness of the night hours, it is often the time when God can st...

"The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it." William James Fools die because they refuse to follow wisdom. They are content to follow their foolish ways, and that will destroy them. But those who listen to me will live in safety and comfort. They will have nothing to fear.” (Proverbs 1:32-33) Are you following wisdom in your life today? The choices you make today frequently determines the path you take tomorrow. It is as though we were paving the way for things unseen, but they aren't always the best that God had planned for us to experience. Foolish decisions today lead to many an unwanted consequence tomorrow. Live within the plans of God and experience the best. Live within the foolishness of our own misguided plans and we will likely experience something short of his goodness. Foolish rush in. The wise listen before they move. In fact, the wise can often be seen not moving when others are, all because that "check" in their s...

No eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard and it has never occurred to the human heart all the things God prepared for those who love Him. God has shown us these profound and startling realities through His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep mysteries of God. Who can see into a man’s heart and know his thoughts? Only the spirit that dwells within the man. In the same way, the thoughts of God are known only by His Spirit. You must know that we have not received the spirit of this rebellious and broken world but the Spirit that comes from God, so that we may experience and comprehend the gifts that come from God. (I Corinthians 2:9-12)  All manner of "things" God has prepared for our enjoyment surround us. ALL specifically placed in our life for our enjoyment - and for our growth!  Why do I think all things placed in our life are for our growth?  Have you tried to be mature and responsible for the many blessings you have received and observed how ri...

You can trust what your friend says, even when it hurts. But your enemies want to hurt you, even when they act nice. (Proverbs 27:6) What does your closest friend say about you? It may not always be what you want to hear, but if they know Jesus, we can trust him to use their words on occasion. Those words may build us up at one time, but they can bring necessary conviction at others! Do all the words we hear always bring us joy and great peace? Not hardly, as sometimes we need to hear the ones that sting just a bit. Why? We may not have been seeing things in the right light and need to have a bit more light shed on the matter. We may have been refusing to hear and just need someone to prod us to listen closer. Our enemies, on the other hand, may sugar coat every word they say, happy to mislead us wherever they can. Whenever we choose to listen to their lies, we almost feel a little undone by those words. They eat at us and give us concerns we didn't know otherwise. We must be caref...

Create in me a clean heart, O God; restore within me a sense of being brand new. (Psalm 51:10) Einstein said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."  He was so true in this perception!  The problems we create will never be overcome or changed until we change the way we have been thinking about them!  To change our thought process we often need to change what we are focusing on so often or intensely. If we always see the problem, we will never see the solution standing just beyond it! If all we see is the river in front of us, raging out of control and making it hard to pass over to the other side, we will likely not see the bridge being lowered from the other side! Restoration is a process of not only being "clean" of the sin in our lives, but of being able to look beyond the sin.  We can ask for forgiveness when we have done something we are not happy we have done, but if all we keep thinking about is that thing we asked...

 Fear can be a trap, but if you trust in the Lord, you will be safe. (Proverbs 29:25) If you have ever been "trapped" by fear, you know just how debilitating it can become. It almost imprisons you. You can barely take a step forward because it paralyzes you. It sends you down roads you never wanted to travel. As one fearful choice leads to another, you are trapped in a downward spiral. As long as that remains your focus, your path will always be DOWNWARD. Notice that fear CAN be a trap, but it doesn't have to be one! What fear does is redirect our focus off of God and his goodness by placing all our focus on the issue or the perception we begin to entertain in our minds. Most of what we fear is made up of a conglomerate of emotions to either a perceived or real threat. Fear saps our energies and sends our emotions into a real tizzy. Trusting in God requires a redirection of our focus. Downward is never God's location. He always moves us upward. Wherever our focus rema...

God’s grace has come. That grace can save everyone. It teaches us not to live against God and not to do the bad things the world wants to do. It teaches us to live on earth now in a wise and right way—a way that shows true devotion to God. We should live like that while we are waiting for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our great hope, and he will come with glory. (Titus 2:11-13) Grace has come, so live by doing what is right and wise. The world needs to see us living in true devotion to God, not ourselves. What does that true devotion look like? I think it may resemble choosing to live with others in mind, not always focusing on ourselves. What does it mean to live against God? Sometimes it means we choose to do or say things that will hurt another, but it could just mean we don't put him first in our choices. When we put Christ first in our lives, it may shift our priorities more than just a little bit. It can change our whole world. Would we choose to ...

 This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; that you will see the difference between what is important and what is not and choose what is important; that you will be pure and blameless for the coming of Christ... (Philippians 1:9-10) The things that are important... What might those be in your life today? Do they change as we grow older? I think perhaps they do. As we "age" in our relationship with Christ, I believe we are challenged to see things in a different light. This is because our priorities change and that is because our focus moves away from "me, me, me".  The "important" things in life might just become the relationships we develop with one another. It could be we have been way too involved with things that really are unimportant, like career, hobbies, or other relationships that really weren't building us up in the right way. They may have fed our ego, bu...

Surely you know that you become the slaves of whatever you give yourselves to. Anything or anyone you follow will be your master. You can follow sin, or you can obey God. Following sin brings spiritual death, but obeying God makes you right with him. (Romans 6:16) If we were honest here, we might just cop to the plea of being just a little too close to some things in our lives that are actually taking our eyes off of Jesus at times. We aren't unique in that struggle, my friends. We find ourselves 'opening' ourselves to all manner of distraction when all God asks for is our attention. It is as though we have an 'attention deficit disorder' when it comes to him! We find ourselves tilting this way or that, all at the mere suggestion of ease, enjoyment, or even encouragement. We wonder why we are not hearing God's voice, but could it be we have just allowed it to be drowned out by all those distractions? The thing we focus on the most is our master. There are so man...

People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help. (I Corinthians 2:14) If you have ever wondered why some people just don't seem to understand what God is doing in your life, it could just be that they haven't met Jesus yet and therefore, they don't understand what you are sharing with them. The Spirit of God is necessary to 'interpret' the things God is doing - to really connect with these things, one needs his Spirit. It is easy for them to understand the things of this world, for that is where their minds are connected. Once there is a connection established between them and God by the power of God's Spirit, they will soon come to understand the things God is doing in and around them, as well. We sometimes try to communicate the things God is doing in our lives in a way that those without God'...

“Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries. (Matthew 6:31-34) I used to kid with mom by telling her she worried about not having anything to worry about! She was a fretter. Towards the end of her life, when she had little else to do but 'think', she'd come up with some scenario, then think on it until she had herself kind of worked up about it. We'd have to talk through things until she had peace again about the situation she had become worked up about, then all would be good in her world again until the next 'scenario' got pain...

You, however, must tell everyone how to live in a way that agrees with the true teaching. Teach the older men to have self-control, to be serious, and to be wise. They must be strong in faith, in love, and in patience. (Titus 2:1-2) You might say the Apostle Paul left Titus in Crete to help establish the churches there, knowing the region well himself, and being commissioned to develop the leadership within those churches. Titus was commissioned to appoint 'elders' to help lead the people - men of good reputation, solid beliefs, and with upright hearts. Titus was also called upon to help the New Testament churches know when a man was teaching wrong doctrine, trying to mislead people with some other 'gospel message' other than grace. It was an important role, but we hear very little of Titus. That might give many of us a little hope, because we don't need to have the 'important roles' in life to contribute in a very positive way! As Paul commissioned Titus, h...

Greetings from Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I was sent to help God’s chosen people have faith and understand the truth that produces a life of devotion to God. This faith and knowledge make us sure that we have eternal life. God promised that life to us before time began—and God does not lie. At the right time, God let the world know about that life. He did this through the telling of the Good News message, and he trusted me with that work. I told people that message because God our Savior commanded me to. (Titus 1:1-3) Sent to help God's chosen to have faith and understand the truth that produces a life of devotion to God. Maybe that mission is one we can carry on each day as we go about our business of 'living life together'. We may not have been called to form the New Testament churches like Paul was, but we have been called to help others grow in their faith and to come into a deeper understanding of God's truths. Why? God wants a people w...

Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in Christ. We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised. (Hebrews 10:22-23) The condition: Our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience; our bodies washed with pure water. The challenge: Come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence. We might want to know God better, somehow appreciating that we don't 'know enough about him' to really understand how he operates in our lives. We could just desire to 'feel' a bit more of God's presence with us each day. We have already been given total access to God and the mind of Christ, but sometimes we don't always 'tap into' what we already have total access into! We lack the confidence within our h...

We have been made right with God because of our faith. So we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.   Through our faith, Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are very happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory.    (Romans 5:1-2) Been made right - that is past-tense, my friends. We have right-standing with God ALREADY. In the day-to-day living we continue to do on this earth, God is still at work in our lives, not to change our 'standing' with him, but to help bring us out old patterns of living into the freshness and joy of living by the standards he proclaims over our lives. Sin is still at work around us - temptation still exists. Our 'standing' with God is good in spite of all the evil around us, attempting to pull us back into old patterns of living. If we trust in Jesus, having placed our faith in his 'finished work' within us, we are 'made right' and stand 'right' in God...

So we should stop judging each other. Let’s decide not to do anything that will cause a problem for a brother or sister or hurt their faith. I know that there is no food that is wrong to eat. The Lord Jesus is the one who convinced me of that. But if someone believes that something is wrong, then it is wrong for that person. (Romans 14:13-14) Van Gogh said that 'conscience was a man's compass'. Einstein reminded us, "Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it." Aquinas told us, "Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins." If conscience is so important to us, why do so many 'violate' their own conscience time and time again? To believe something is wrong, then pursue it anyway is a clear-cut violation of one's own conscience - the very 'tool' God gave each of us ...

The one who plants few seeds will have a small harvest. But the one who plants a lot will have a big harvest. Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. You should not give if it makes you unhappy or if you feel forced to give. God loves those who are happy to give. And God can give you more blessings than you need, and you will always have plenty of everything. You will have enough to give to every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8) How many 'seeds' have you been given? Does each seed only bear one other seed? Not hardly! Seeds have a way of multiplying when they are planted. God doesn't expect us to keep the seed of faith we have been given, but he asks us to 'plant it' deep within the hearts of those around us. Why? It will grow and be able to produce more seeds of faith that can be passed on to others! There are many types of 'seeds' God gives us, faith being only one of those seeds. The seed faith that gives from a heart of ...

“Fools die because they refuse to follow wisdom. They are content to follow their foolish ways, and that will destroy them. But those who listen to me will live in safety and comfort. They will have nothing to fear.” (Proverbs 1:32-33) The old song, "Fools rush in", admits that some can be so blinded by something or someone, all reasonable thought flies out the door. One of the lines in the song actually says, "Though I see the danger there, if there's a chance for me, then I don't care..." It goes without saying that we rush into danger more times than not simply because we failed to exercise wisdom in those moments. How can we get to the place where we 'don't rush in'? We learn to listen to God's voice! God-given wisdom far exceeds human wisdom, but somehow, we think it is okay to just trudge right on into those moments we will come to regret later on. We refuse to listen to his wisdom and find ourselves treading on thin ice. Another line f...

When you talk, don’t say anything bad. But say the good things that people need—whatever will help them grow stronger. Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you. (Ephesians 4:29) It isn't 'if' you talk, but 'when' you talk - indicating that we are all bound to say things without thinking now and again! We might not 'plan' our words all that well at times, allowing errant thought and not so wholesome communication to escape. When that happens, relationships get tweaked out of shape and sometimes things go awry in ways we never quite thought about when we were 'speaking' those words. I had a college professor that always reminded us that Satan is the prince of the power of the air and our words leave our mouths - travel through air - and then are heard by someone. He asked us if it was possible that 'air space' gave any chance for Satan for 'tweak' those words in tone or inflection, effectively 'changing' those...

"The man who practices unselfishness, who is genuinely interested in the welfare of others, who feels it a privilege to have the power to do a fellow-creature a kindness - even though polished manners and a gracious presence may be absent - will be an elevating influence wherever he goes." (Orison Swett Marden) In whatever you do, don’t let selfishness or pride be your guide. Be humble, and honor others more than yourselves. Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too. (Philippians 2:3-4) In whatever you do - it easy to be concerned about others when your own needs are met, isn't it? When your needs haven't been met, how easy is it then? Truth be told, we all have a selfish streak that runs deep, and we sometimes haven't a clue it is there! Selfishness is one of the hardest things for us to recognize, but it can be the one thing that drives a wedge between two people quicker than we might imagine. When our eyes are on ourselv...

I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10) Sometimes I think we honestly believe we can 'work our way' into God's good graces, but if that were possible, there would have been no need for Christ to come to this earth, sacrificing his life on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and then battling death, hell, and the grave to redeem us from ourselves. A gift is given - then it must be received - period. There are no strings attached, nothing the one receiving the gift must do in order to receive it. If that were the case, it would be 'earnings' and not a 'gift'! When I was working, I earned a paycheck. I put in my 40-50 hou...

The Lord hates the offerings of the wicked, but he is happy to hear the prayers of those who live right. (Proverbs 15:8) We don't have to have all the right words to reach out to God when we need help, assurance, peace, or even comfort. What we do need is a heart that is humble, a spirit that is submitted to him, and just a little bit of faith that he will hear and answer. Even if we are lacking in the last one, God can make up for the faith we lack right at that moment!  Sometimes we go to God in prayer as though it were some sort of 'transaction' between God and us. The 'here I am, what are you going to do for me now' kind of prayers are not really what God is after when we go to him in prayer. Yes, he delights in meeting our needs, but he takes much delight in us acknowledging him, giving him thanks, and allowing him to show us exactly what we need. To treat prayer as something we 'do' rather than a means by which we connect with our God is also not entir...

Wise people say things that give you new knowledge, but fools say nothing worth hearing. (Proverbs 15:7) Churchill once said, "We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out." Words that just 'slip out' of our mouths are often the ones we come to regret. We make promises we have no intention of keeping, vow certain things that are really beyond our means, or create unrealistic expectations because we speak words that just aren't true. Wisdom in choosing the right words, at the right time, and speaking them in the right manner is something we must master if we want to have relationships that last a lifetime. What words actually bring 'new knowledge' into our lives? Well, the first place we look for those words is in God's Word. We want to get into the Word of God so it can actually help us with sorting out the words we hear elsewhere throughout our day. Without God's help in 'sorting out' those words, we will enterta...

Think about what we have in Christ: the encouragement he has brought us, the comfort of his love, our sharing in his Spirit, and the mercy and kindness he has shown us. If you enjoy these blessings, then do what will make my joy complete: Agree with each other, and show your love for each other. Be united in your goals and in the way you think. (Philippians 2:1-2) What is it we have 'in Christ' that we didn't have without him in our lives? For one thing, we have been given more than just forgiveness as we might think of it. When we forgive someone, do we forget the offense? No, there is a lingering remembrance. With God, there is no remembrance of the sin. When I was in grade school, the teacher would use the chalkboard all day, erasing with those black erasers. It left a tell-tale white residue on the board. At the end of the day, I enjoyed 'cleaning' the board with the soft 'shammy-like' eraser that removed all that residue and made the board look like ne...

Don’t do wrong to anyone to pay them back for doing wrong to you. Or don’t insult anyone to pay them back for insulting you. But ask God to bless them.  (I Peter 3:9) Okay, gonna ask a revealing question today: "When someone does you 'wrong', what is your first response?" If you are anything like me, you might think it wasn't exactly 'fair' for them to treat you that way, and even think you'd like to 'get even' a bit. It is kind of like you want them to know exactly how they hurt you, but you know they most likely won't feel the same hurt as you do. Truth be told, we can all deal with the 'getting even' kind of response from time to time, but is it God's desire for us to respond that way? Absolutely not! Does he understand it hurts us? Yes, but he has prepared much more for us in 'blessing our enemy' than we will ever get out of 'hurting them'! Asking God to bless someone who has hurt us deeply is probably one of...

Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds. (Philippians 4:5-7) God's peace - do you feel it? If you have invited Christ into your life, it is standing guard over all your thoughts and feelings. Does it always feel like your thought life and feelings have his protection? Probably not. Why is that? We can still 'override' his peace when we allow our worries and frustrations to take us down 'thought pathways' that negatively impact our peace. We have to 'take captive' those thoughts as they arise, and even those feelings that lead to those thoughts, giving them over to him for his control. We play an active part in exercising wisdom over what we allow our minds ...

I look up to the hills, but where will my help really come from? My help will come from the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. He will not let you fall. (Psalm 121:1-3) I have spent many hours looking for some form of help simply because I got myself into predicaments that were of my own making - my own stubbornness, pride, fear, or anger getting me all muddled up in some situation I didn't really want to be involved in. It happens to the best of us, my friends. We say something without thinking it through and then wonder why we are 'reaping' such a backlash. We get involved in issues not our own, then wonder why things get out of control. The more we want to be in control of our lives, the more we can expect to encounter these kinds of troubles. The more we desire to allow God's control over our lives, the more likely we will be to avoid such conflicts and concerns. There is but one place to look to when we are in need of help (even when we are in the muddle becaus...

So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty.   That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death.  T he law was without power because it was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do: He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that everyone else uses for sin . God sent him to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to destroy sin.  H e did this so that we could be right just as the law said we must be. Now we don’t live following our sinful selves. We live following the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4) God used a human life to destroy sin - but that human life was the Son of God, come to earth with the specific mission of taking our sins to the cross. Does it ever surprise you that God used 'human life' to destroy sin? Jesus experienced what we experience from day to day, growing hungry, weary, sweating from hard work....

Your parents give you commands and teachings that are like lights to show you the right way. This teaching corrects you and trains you to follow the path to life. (Proverbs 6:23) A parent's advice was not something I relished as a kid, teenager, or even as a very young adult. Somewhere along the way into my adult years, my parents became the smartest and wisest people I knew! It is a miracle what God can do to change our parents, isn't it? Really, I am being a little sarcastic there because the one who changed because of God's help was ME. My parents gave me 'commands' - the rules I should live by. Did I always follow them? Nope! Did I get in a bit more trouble than I really wanted to be in? Yep! Have I learned that their 'advice' and 'teaching' was pretty doggone 'solid' and 'trustworthy'? Absolutely! God's plan for us is that we learn from our parents, listening closely to the teaching that actually will 'train us' for l...