The Plumbline

Bring your confessions, and return to the   Lord .   Say to him,  “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,   so that we may offer you our praises.  The  Lord  says,  “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;  my love will know no bounds,  for my anger will be gone forever. (Hosea 14:2, 4) Many forget just how far they have fallen away from what God intended. All have fallen and are somewhere 'short' of where they should be, but when we bring our confessions to God, fully devoting our hearts to him, we will find he heals us of all our faithlessness. His love indeed knows no bounds - especially when it comes to restoring a repentant heart and a hungry soul. Look at what the Israelites say: "Forgive ALL our sins and GRACIOUSLY receive us..." The truth is that sin finds an inroad, making its way into our hearts and minds, until one day we don't even realize just how far we have fallen. At whatever point God's grace finally taps in...

Answer me when I call to you,   O God who declares me innocent. F ree me from my troubles.   Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1) One of the greatest fears men have could just be thinking God doesn't hear them when they call out for God's help. The issue isn't that God doesn't hear, it could be that we don't listen! God has been listening to us all along - we might not have returned the favor! Some think prayer is simply us talking to God about what is the matter in our lives and expecting him to 'fix' it somehow. It is a shocker when God shows us there are things we could fix that would make things a whole lot better. We don't realize that prayer is a two-way conversation. We might speak to God, but he is earnestly trying to speak to us in the midst of the 'unloading' we are doing on him. It isn't that God doesn't want us to bring our cares and concerns to him. It is that when we do, it is for more than an immediate 'fix...

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. (Isaiah 11:1-5) Jesus took great delight in obeying his Father, just as we should take similar delight in obedience. Upon his shoulder rested great wisdom and understanding - the same wisdom and understanding we can access by simply seeking him. One of the neatest things we see as we read the record of Jesus' time...

“God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life. They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain. Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?” (Job 24:22-25) They may rise high. That about says it all. Mankind plots and schemes, attempting to outwit each other and in turn, outwit God. I am not surprised by mankind's folly, but I am always amused by how much 'climbing' and 'clamoring' there is to reach 'the top'. When the 'top' is finally reached, those who did all that clamoring stand at least a little bit disappointed - if not immediately, at least in the end. Why? There is always going to be something 'more' to go after because nothing really fills that void in one's spirit that is intended for God's presence. They are great now. Yet, their end ...

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. (Joshua 1:8) We cannot neglect the Word of God and expect good things to happen in our lives. We need the intake of his Word for our spirit as much as we need food and water for our bodies. As Joshua was being 'commissioned' by God to take the Israelite nation into the Promised Land of Canaan, he gives him the instruction to STUDY his words CONTINUALLY. In other words, do more than a casual reading of them - let them soak into the very fibers of one's life until that life becomes affected by their intake. It is more of a mediation - to think deeply and frequently about what God has said. Whenever we allow the Word of God to be 'mulled over' in our minds, we are allowing it to be 'continually' studied. It helps us stay focused on what God is saying to us, and it often will 'ope...

Put  God  in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place. (Proverbs 16:3) Have you ever wondered why some things you have planned to do just don't go as planned? You work and rework those plans, trying hard to think of every inevitability, then 'bam', something doesn't go as planned and the whole plan has to be rework - or worse, abandoned entirely. I am an amateur woodworker (emphasis on amateur), abandoning more than just a few 'misguided' projects. They started out well, but that old adage of measure twice, cut once didn't get followed and the 'object' of my plans didn't quite work out. Life is more than a 'measure twice, cut once' kind of deal. It is a seek God repeatedly, let him refine your plans, and don't move until he does kind of deal! Put God in charge of your work. That doesn't mean we just throw our plans out there and 'tell' God how to make them work out as we planned. It means we submit eac...

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.   For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.   You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.   But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. (James 1:22-25) We sometimes forget God's Word is more than a message we merely hear. We must take it a step further - obedience. Obedience to God's Word may seem to be a bit 'unconventional' to the majority who surround you, but it doesn't make it okay to ignore it. It is not obeyed in bits and pieces, but in its entirety. It was given to us to help us know God, understand how he works and moves, and to pattern our lives accordingly. Whenever we ignore God's Word, we might not think it will matter all that much, especially when it is ignor...

As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30) Have you ever wondered why you don't resist temptation on occasion? You were sailing along just fine, and then out of nowhere came this thought. That thought began to consume your other thoughts until it finally began to stimulate the formation of an action. Before you knew it, along came the full-fledged response to the temptation and it wasn't resistance! Just like that, you 'indulged' yourself in the sin you tried to resist for so long. How does this happen? It is usually because we take ourselves out of the refuge we find in Jesus. As long as we are safe in that refuge, we resist just fine. Step outside of those boundaries just a bit and the temptation can overwhelm to the point of full compromise. His refuge? It begins with his Word. If you haven't figured it out by now, you can actually use his Word to combat many of those initial thoughts and kee...

I am not always excited to endure a trial of any sort - how about you? Do you eagerly await the next trial or temptation? I doubt you do! You are probably thinking about barely surviving with your sanity from the last doozy of a trial you went through, aren't you? Standing the test isn't for the weak hearted - it is for the bold hearted - those with the faith of a mustard seed, willing to put that faith to the test, even when the outcome seems a little foredrawn in your mind. The foredrawn conclusion? It is going to be tougher than you can endure! Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12) The foredrawn conclusion doesn't always take God into account, does it? Sometimes we come to that conclusion all on our own - out of fear, past failures, and a lack of total trust in the one we serve. We give a whole lot of lip service to serving Christ, putting him f...

 Psalm 12:6-8 reminds us, "The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land." The promises of God hold certain even when the wicked rise up and the lies of corruption abound. God's kids have nothing to fear. They have an ability to see the lies and to avoid their pull. It comes through the presence of God with them and the protection he brings. What do lies do? They bring oppression, don't they? Almost without noticing, there is a load of weight being put upon the shoulders of those who buy into those lies. They lay a weight of heaviness intended to drag down their 'devotees'. The wicked are indeed spouting those untruths in order to confuse, dupe, and lead astray. God's protection keeps us from living under the load of that weigh...

Imagine receiving a commission from the Lord to lead his people - taking them into vast new areas, experiencing tremendous blessings, and facing 'giants' and 'difficulties' like they had not faced before. Now, imagine being a little overwhelmed by it all, kind of doubting your abilities, and fearing what was ahead of you on that mission. You are probably wondering if those who will follow you will continue to do so even if you mess up from time to time. You might even be second-guessing your every move up to this point, even though God says he will be with you. You aren't alone in your doubts, fears, or 'mess up' moments, my friends, but when God calls, he also equips. To hear from God is both a privilege and a tremendous responsibility. We must take both very seriously. After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these peo...

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud. (Psalm 138:6) The Lord's care is upon us - we may be among those who proclaim all manner of success and greatness, but all greatness comes from within God's heart and the change he makes within ours. The humble have submitted their hearts to God. They know their purpose is found in him - not the successes of this world. Scripture reminds us God actually 'opposes' the proud, but he gives abundance grace to the humble. We should never put ourselves in a place of being opposed by God. His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience will always be greater than the proud can endure. Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies. You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me. (Psalm 138:7) The power of God actually sets us up for 'success' against our enemies and every opposing force that attempts to come against us...

 The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. (Jeremiah 17:9-10) What does your heart hold onto? What 'secret motives' have been hidden away in the recesses of your mind, will, or emotions that seem to creep up at the weirdest times, giving you an urge to say or do things that you know you should not? We must never forget that God gave us our unique 'make-up' - body, soul, spirit. He created us and he has watched over our lives from the very beginning - even when we made bad choices, others inflicted pain upon us by their bad choices, or we struggled to make better ones than we had in our past. Our heart might want to betray us from time to time, but when our spirit is rightly connected with God's Spirit, we stand a much better chance of resisting temptation. As a young believer, I used to wonder what God meant by the words, "I give all...

Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (Romans 12:3) How many times do we evaluate ourselves against other people? It may come as no surprise to you that psychologists have actually studied how people either "Compare Upward" or "Compare Downward" when evaluating their own behaviors. When we go the upward direction, we perceive someone to actually be better than us at something, so we judge ourselves against their behavior or actions. When we choose the downward comparison, we perceive ourselves as better, so we are judging them against our behavior. Unfortunately, God says that either way is wrong!  When we use others as our comparison, we find we either justify our behavior as 'okay' or we think we are so much worse than we should be. The first actually boosts what some refer to as 'self-esteem', while the latter merely pushes us further into a h...

  Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.   Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.   He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. (Ephesians 4:14-16) The five-fold ministry of the church (apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, and pastor) might not be recognized for their extreme value at times. We know they exist - that they have a role to play. Yet, we don't actually realize it is for OUR benefit they fulfill their roles! The whole purpose of their ministry is OUR growth. They are placed there to protect us from every unsound teaching that comes along - from being duped ...

The Lord will work out his plans for my life— for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me. (Psalm 138:8) For many believers, there are times when they don't actually see God working in their lives, believing that he has perhaps forgotten about his 'plans' for them. It is as though God has abandoned them for some reason. At those moments, they can either choose to take things into their own hands, or they can choose to keep their eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of ALL his handiwork! It can be hard to 'not see' God and still trust him. We are sensory or tactile individuals, so we look for 'evidence' as a basis by which we determine if something or someone is doing what they are supposed to be doing. If someone tells us they will take out the trash, we might use our sense of smell and our eyesight to observe that they job has been done as promised, right? When we enter into this 'unseen' world of faith, it i...

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? (Isaiah 43:19) There have been plenty of times when God has begun something new in my life, all the while with me being absolutely clueless about what was going on. When he sets out to change my circumstances, I may not understand how he will work, I just know he is working. When he sets out to change my heart, I may even resist a little because I am kind of hard-headed at times. If you are anything like me, you may see God is at work, but you are a little baffled by what he is doing or the methods he is employing in doing his work. Don't worry or resist - ask for wisdom and then watch closely. God's work may begin with a 'big bang' kind of moment - all things in a state of upheaval. His plan isn't to destroy us - but it may feel like it at times. We won't resist the change as much if we keep seeking his face in the midst of it. God's work may begin a little less 'rigoro...

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. (Ephesians 4:21-24) The old sinful nature is just a 'snag' waiting to trip us up if we don't cast it off once and for all. We need to let go of our past, including the desires and lusts of that way of life, and lay hold of this new way of living. Once we determine to do that, we will make strides in our Christian walk. The 'limping around' old lifestyle is done with - we now walk upright, strong, and with purpose like never before.  We put off the old nature - all its ways - and put on the new one Christ gives us. We cannot expect change if we don't get up and walk away from whatever it was that held us bound in our past. As long as we hold onto the ...

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22) If you have ever been somewhere in the midst of a crowd of people but find yourself feeling very 'alone' even in the midst of the crowd, you are not alone. There are times when we feel like strangers even among those we know pretty well. You might call it an 'emotional funk' or even an 'odd feeling', but whatever you call it, you don't feel like you 'belong' at that moment. Now, imagine living life like that all the time. Wouldn't that be horrible to go through life feeling like y...

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. (Thomas A. Edison) So, let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9) We all have those moments when we just want to give up on whatever it is we have in front of us, don't we? The burden is too great, the task too daunting, the journey too long. The more we focus on the difficulty of it all, the more we just want to quit. If we were honest, we have likely already 'quit' on a few things in life that we began with so much gusto, but somewhere down the road, we just plain 'burned out'. Life isn't about the starts - it is also about the finishes. What someone forgot to tell us was there is a whole lot of hard stuff between those two! Life gets messy, choices get hard, and things get rather complicated. We don't want to go on, but there are demands put on us that te...

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3) When God says he will guard us from the evil one, he is not merely saying he will 'keep watch' to alert us to his next attack. He is reminding us that he will keep us safe from harm. Danger may lurk at about every turn, but we don't need to be overtaken or surprised by it. We will be protected - held safe from harm.  God is indeed faithful - his faithfulness is never-ending even when ours is a bit shaky at times. Guarded hearts and minds are made stronger and stronger each time they interact with him. We may not even realize just how much our 'strength' is increasing, but when we are hit with the attack of our enemy, the evidence becomes very clear - God is with us, in us, and is moving through us. Too many times, we attempt to stand our ground in our own strength and wisdom. I know for certain that all my wisdom is not 'self-taught'. Much of what I have ...

“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 34:6-7) As God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, he also gave him this message. I have frequently been asked what it means when God says he will "lay the sins of the parents upon their children...", to the third and fourth generations. Does that mean God will make four generations 'pay for' the sins of their forefathers? Not exactly. It does mean that what one generation 'tolerates' or 'accepts as okay' that is clearly outside of what God commands would result in future generations accepting and engaging in actions even worse. Thus, it results in the '...

Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. (Ephesians 5:6-10) The sins we excuse don't make them any less sins. They are still actions and attitudes God would have his children stay away from completely. When we engage with these sins, entertaining them and then eventually accepting them as 'okay' for us, we are only being deluded into believing the lies of our enemy, Satan. Sin is sin. That may be a hard pill to swallow, but it doesn't make it any less true. Live as people of light by carefully determining what pleases the Lord and then living according to that plan. If the light of Christ truly dwells within us, we will be less likely to c...

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. (Desmond Tutu) The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. (Psalm 121:7-8) We might not feel like much 'watchfulness' is occurring at times, life spiraling out of control, things happening outside of our influence, but definitely influencing our lives in one way or another. What do we do when things start to spiral? Do we immediately jump into the worrying mode, fear creeping in, feeling a bit intimidated by the moment? Do we lift a quick prayer to God for his help and assurances? When all around us is in chaos, it is sometimes hard to remember God keeps watch - no matter the circumstances! Light despite all the darkness - isn't that what Tutu said? It sounds a bit like our Psalm today, doesn't it? We may come and go, today and in the future, and God's care over us will never be disrupted. A disruption i...

Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. (Romans 14:12-13) Decide instead - that very statement indicates we often tend to 'argue points' way more than we should. We find fault with someone's way of worshipping, or perhaps even what day they worship on. God just said to make one day out of seven a day of rest - a sabbath. Does it matter if it is Sunday, Saturday, or even Monday? Not at all! It matters whether we take time to gather together, learn from his word, and enter into his rest. We find all types of ways to criticize each other, don't we? The clothes we wear, the church we attend, whether we eat meat during lent or even observe the season of lent at all. The ways we choose to criticize each other really do little more than 'taunt' our 'superiority' over someone else's way of worshipping. That does...

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 9:35-38) A follower requires a leader. As we might imagine, there are tons of individuals desirous of being 'leaders' in this world. Some will rise slowly, others seemingly at the speed of light. What most leaders have in common is that they ask you to give up something in order to follow after them. What Jesus asked of us is that we give up our own way - our stubborn, prideful way of living life independently from God. Th...

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. (Ephesians 3:12) In Old Testament times, the high priest would prepare an offering to take into the Holy of Holies (an inner chamber within the Tabernacle of Moses). He'd enter with more than a little trepidation because of the presence of God that dwelt there. The holiness of God was the very thing that could be their undoing, especially if they came with unprepared hearts and hands. If the high priest entered without preparing himself, he could be struck dead! No wonder he took the time to prepare! Now, we enter boldly into God's presence, having our hearts prepared by the Spirit of God that indwells us. His presence goes with us - in us, in fact - because of the finished work of Christ. What does that 'bold access' to the presence of God mean? It means we no longer need to bring sacrifices to 'atone' for our sins. We are already forgiven. We now enter readily...

It was Barack Obama who said, "We are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too." Confucious said, "The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home." We must never forget that nation after nation has fallen, only to be replaced by another who comes after, making those who remain 'foreigners' in that nation. What makes a nation great? If we trust what God says to us, it is the pursuit of all manner of good and the trust in his ways.  Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34) William Penn reminds us, "True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it." Mending fences has always been part of God's economy. He trusts us to seek out godly practices, replicating them in our homes, and then changing our communities through those godly actions. It is what truly will make any nation great...

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.  (Eric Hoffer) Lord, you are mine! I promise to obey your words! With all my heart I want your blessings. Be merciful as you promised. I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws. (Psalm 119:57-59) Perhaps one of the most difficult lessons to learn is that we don't 'earn' God's blessings. The more we spend time with Jesus, the more we will realize his blessings are vast and unlimited. The blessings of God are not linked to what we 'do' in this relationship, but their very presence within our lives might just prompt us toward obedience more and more each day. We aren't 'obedient' to obtain the blessings - the obedience actually flows from our lives because we realize how great grace is! Ponder the direction of your life every so often - it isn't always going the right direction. We need to take time to allow God to point out to us where ...

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.  (Arnold H. Glasow) Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (Galatians 6:1-3) Gently and humbly help that person back up - this is a command, not an 'optional function' of those who are in relationship with Jesus. We all are subject to falling from time to time. Temptation just gets to us at a weak moment, and we succumb to the temptation. The response from those we call 'friends' in this walk with Jesus are given one instruction - restore them to the right path.  I have been lost on occasion, finding myself in a part of town I don't know wel...

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” (Psalm 46:10) We have likely heard the phrase, "Be still, and know that I am God!" - yet I wonder if we realized the rest of the verse actually declared the 'absoluteness' of our God's reign? There is no implication that there is ever room for any other gods in this reign - HE will be honored by EVERY nation - throughout the entire world. Try as some might, no other 'religion' or 'exalted being' will ever stand against his reign. Perhaps this is the basis of our 'being still'. We can know with an absolute assurance that he is in control, no matter what calamity befalls us. Nations will rise up against nations; men will war against men; ideals will be displayed as 'the best' - yet God remains supreme, fully in control, aware of every nuance and idea. He will never forsake his rule - he will never allow our 'stillness...