The Plumbline

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...