The Plumbline

Confucius said: "By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."  Reflection is really a combination of what we are learning right now based upon our consideration of past experiences. We are going through something right now, but the events and outcomes of the past play a big part in how we 'interpret' the present situation. We spend time thinking about what we have already learned (past events) and what it is God is trying to teach us right now, don't we? Psalm 119:15 reminds us to study God's commandments and reflect on his ways. Psalm 119:55 tells us the result of that reflection: "I reflect at night on who you are, O Lord; therefore, I obey your instructions." Obedience is to be the outcome of reflection! In observing God's actions throughout scripture, we come to a place of learning when he will act, how it is he will do s...

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” (I Timothy 4:8 NLT) The present life seems to get a whole lot of our attention, but not always in a way that adds value to our lives in the long run. Some of the attention we give it is momentary - like good personal hygiene. It needs continual focus or the value of that 'hygiene' fades/wears away. Before long, we need to refocus on it once again. Our spiritual life is no different - it needs renewed focus from time to time because the effect of it has faded a bit or worn away. The more we focus on whatever gives lasting value (like the study of scripture or time in worship), the more we find the renewal we are experiencing isn't really our doing - it is God's. The value to us is realized because he has added it through getting to know Jesus just a bit better. For some of us, the life to come gets far less attention that the life we have in ...

Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.  The rich and poor have this in common: The Lord made them both. (Proverbs 22:1-2 NLT) The beliefs or opinions one holds about another are usually the result of their behavior or how they have performed at some point. The same is true about how they 'see' us. It can be very biased when it only takes in certain behaviors and not all the others we might exhibit along the way. Time and circumstances may cause one to have a certain reputation, but it is possible it isn't a true picture of that individual at all - it is just what we saw at the moment that caused us to believe what we believe. A person can be said to be 'good' or 'bad' based on what we observe in their behavior. The value one places on another's behavior is based on what one believes about that behavior. If you are outspoken but the other is rather soft spoken, you make think them weak or timid...

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? (Proverbs 20:24 NLT) Do you have to understand everything before you ever undertake the first steps into something new? Too many times, we limit God by having to understand all that he is doing or all that is happening in the moment. He wants us to follow the path he marks out, trusting him as we take each step, knowing he has prepared those steps/events well in advance of us taking that first step. The more we question, the more we reveal our lack of trust in God. We must trust his guidance and lean into his goodness. He won't ask more of us than he will equip us to do, nor will he ask us to do things that are harmful. He watches over our steps, one by one, until the mission he asks of us is complete. Needing to understand every little thing he is doing isn't realistic. Some of what he does now is for our future - the steps we have yet to take down the road. Without those first steps, there would...

 Arthur C. Clark reminds us, "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." Scripture reminds us: “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26 NLT) Everything seems impossible until God intervenes, especially when it comes to dealing with our sin nature. The truth of the matter is that the harder we try to resist sin with little more than our willpower, the harder it will be to actually break the cycle of sin and compromise in our lives. We need the Spirit of God if we are to ever break free of sin's downward cycle in our lives. Discovering the limits of our own ability to 'resist' is the beginning of our journey toward what is 'possible' ONLY through the help of God. We might think we are doing a pretty good job of resisting sin in our lives, then we realize we are just ...

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. (Colossians 3:16 NLT) Alexis Carrel reminds us, "All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people." The message of Christ, his goodness and his grace, needs to fill all of our lives, not just the Sunday-parts! Wisdom or counsel is only as trustworthy as the source of such wisdom. When we are teaching one another with the wisdom Christ gives us in our daily study of his Word and the time we spend alone with him, we are truly connecting each other to the wisdom that will guide and protect each other. Teach and counsel - two very specific actions that have a bit of a different meaning. When we teach someone, we are showing them or instructing them in how something is to be done. When we counsel one another, we are actually giving w...

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. (I Corinthians 13:4-5 NLT) Lewis B. Smedes reminds us, "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you." We may not realize just how 'bound' we have become by holding onto those things we find 'hard to forgive' in others. It isn't that we don't want to forgive - it is that our memory keeps it front and center in our lives, making it hard to really let go. Forgiveness doesn't mean we won't remember a slight against us. Some might think it means the pain we associate with the slight will begin to be less and less until one day it is there no longer. We won't really let go of the unforgiveness - it just doesn't bring us that same level of pain when we remember it. This isn't what God had in mind for us, though. He wants us to be both free of th...

May the Lord richly bless both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity. The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! (Psalm 115:14-18 NLT) The heavens belong to the Lord. We cannot fathom the true majesty of his heavenly realm, even though we have powerful telescopes that help us to explore the skies. The 'human eye' cannot see the divine in all his glory, but the human heart can come to know and appreciate the mystery of his intense love for his creation.  We may think of praise and worship as engaging in behavior that 'glorifies God' through song, raised hands, dance, and even silence at times. Yet it is so much more. There is a transformative power within praise and worship. It regenerates our hearts and focuses our minds. We might just find that praise and ...

Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. (Proverbs 20:3 NLT) There might just be a few more fools in this world than there are wise at the moment. It seems everyone wants to quarrel about anything they don't like or agree with, doesn't it? The wise will do anything short of sin to avoid he quarrel, though. Why? It brings out things that never should be voiced, and it creates a set of circumstances that allow a 'build up' of things that should never be done. The fool speaks his mind without thought as to how the message will be received. He isn't concerned about the ones hearing it - he just insists on voicing it. The wise think first about who will hear their message and how it will affect those who do hear it. Perhaps the question we need to be asking is how we can avoid a quarrel when all around us there seem to be quarrelers. Choosing our words wisely is the beginning of wisdom in relating one to another. When we match this with ch...

God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping. (Psalm 18:32, 35-36 NLT) There is no armor in this world that can prepare us for spiritual warfare. We must be armed with the strength of God himself. Our way of 'dealing' in life will always be to focus on our own self-sufficiency. God's plan is for us to move away from self-sufficiency and toward his sufficiency - it far outshines and outperforms our own! We want a shield that will provide us with the shelter we need from life's attacks, but we try to erect it ourselves and find it just doesn't work all that well. The shield of victory and the support of his right hand may not seem like much to somebody looking at this from a purely physical vantage point, but when seen from the realm of the spiritual vantage point, it is the only defense we w...

I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. (Galatians 3:5 NLT) Does God give you the Holy Spirit AND work miracles among you? Yes, he does. How do we know this? We hear the message, we receive the messenger, and then we become the message and the messenger! The work of grace within us brings a new message into our lives and it results in a new message coming forth from our lives. Our behavior changes - the message becomes clearer. We are called to bring the message in word, but most importantly, in our actions! The message must be clear. We cannot dilute it because Christ did not dilute his grace when he poured it into our lives. We don't make grace more 'palatable' - it has a way of working just as it is. Those who haven't heard of his grace don't need to hear it in some 'namby-pamby' way or 'refined' to their t...

For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. (Galatians 2:19-21 NLT) When I tried to keep the law... Those words bespeak what a great many believe to be as the means by which they will 'get into heaven'. The law required US to do something, certain ways, at certain times, to get a certain result. Grace required Christ to do it all on our behalf because the 'something' we were or have been doing wasn't going to ever bring about the forgiveness of our sins. The law condemns. It never really sets anyone free. We may try to be good, ...

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. (Psalm 86:5 NLT) Did you ever stop to think that the struggle you keep engaging in is because you really haven't asked God for help? Oh, sure, you ask in a casual sense, "God, help me get over this issue," then you don't stop to listen to what he says might be at the root of it. Later, as the issue arises time and time again, you get rather defeated because you don't know why it is still an issue. Perhaps it is because the issue is not the problem - it is us not really wanting to engage with God long enough and often enough to really fix whatever it is within us that makes the issue no longer an issue. He stands ready to forgive. We often ask for forgiveness and deliver our half-hearted plea to 'never do it again' and 'I just wanna be free of this', but then when the temptation arises again, there we go down that rabbit hole once more. Forgivenes...

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 NLT) Since - you used to live one way, but now you are called to live another. The precipitating factor to live differently? You know Jesus and have asked him to be your Lord and Savior. The result? You live differently - making different choices, casting off things within your 'former life' that did not bring honor to him, and focusing on those things that do.  Instead - replace one thing with another. Jesus never asks us to lay aside or cast away anything in our lives that is 'worthwhile' or truly of 'value'. He may ask us to leave some activities because they are a 'time suck' for us, or they aren't doing much to imp...

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3 NLT) If I could - those are the most telling words about the motivation behind our actions, aren't they? If I could, I would... These are the words we most often speak when we want to do something but somehow have ourselves talked into not doing it or being incapable of doing it. The real telling words of this passage are not those, though. They are: 'but didn't love others'. The motivation matters, yes, but the heart behind the motivation matters most! We can have a l...

It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (I Corinthians 13:6-7 NLT) Many years ago, Abraham Lincoln said, "My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth." Truth must win out in order for America to really be great again. Truthful individuals must lead. Individuals who have put their hope and faith in Jesus Christ and him alone. If we are to be a nation of hope, we must first be a nation of loving, loyal, faithful followers of Jesus.  Followers of Jesus don't turn a blind eye to injustices all around them. They stand up for the oppressed and fight the warfare that moves heaven and earth - spiritual warfare. We see many who are willing to rise up against the injustices they observe in a physical sense, but are there men and women who follow Jesus rising up in spiritual warfare agains...

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:12-13 NLT) Principalities and powers - there is an unseen realm behind every one of our battles, my friends. We don't even know they exist, but we can feel and see their influence, can't we? Their principal purpose is to make war against God's people. Their mission is to oppose everything and everyone in God's family. Our values, the boundaries we set for our lives, the mission we engage in - all are under their attack. The closer you get to Jesus, the more you can count on these 'unseen realms' acting against our forward progress. It should not come as a surprise that a 'lukewarm,...

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us, "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." We sometimes trust in things and individuals that really aren't all that trustworthy. Where do you place your trust today? Is it in your financial well-being or career pathway? Is it in your ability to figure almost anything out without much effort? Or is your trust in something some may refer to as a little more 'divine' like a guardian angel? There is but one reliable place to put your trust - the cross. At the cross, all we needed was provided. All we never knew we needed was provided! Are we guilty of depending on our own understanding to figure out what is going on in our lives? If so, we likely have a very limited perspective and could actually be trusting in something...

Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. (Psalm 82:3-4 NLT) Edwin Markham said, "There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own." We can look on as others suffer, or we can step in, help out, find a way. The more we sit back and just watch, the more the suffering is allowed to continue. Rescue the poor and helpless has actions defined as "delivering them from the grasp of evil people". We might not understand their plight fully, but it doesn't give us any less of a commission to be of aid wherever and whenever we are able. We aren't living life on this earth in solitude, my friends. All of us breathe the same air! None of us is without need at some point in our lives. Any form of social injustice is certainly on a different level from being ou...

But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. (Galatians 5:22-24 AMP) The result of God's presence within us is always going to produce 'fruit' that is different than the way we were living prior to saying yes to Jesus. The sinful nature (with all of its passions and appetites) need no longer control the way we live. The choices we make each and every day are the result of the 'new fruit' that is being produced within. One of the 'fruits' that popped out at me this morning while reading through this passage was PATIENCE. I put that in all-caps because we often pray for it like it is an emergency situation ra...

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. (James 1:5 AMP) Who is it that gives? God himself. Who is it who asks? Us. What do we ask for? Everything we know or imagine we will need. When do we ask? Usually when we need something. What do we neglect to ask for? Wisdom! Who is wisdom? Jesus. When we ask for wisdom, we are asking for Jesus to become more real to us in the moment, bringing clarity to our situation, and giving us insight we wouldn't have otherwise. It isn't that we are praying for more of Jesus - we already have all of him. We are praying for more evidence of him in our lives. Let him ask - those words are the crux of the issue. We have not because we ask not (James 4:2). We need to ask for wisdom in life's moments because we don't possess all the wisdom to navigate through them wisely 100% of the time. Sometimes we act ...

Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 AMP) In order to 'keep on', one must have begun in the first place. If you have been waiting for God to answer a 'hoped for' something in your life and you have never sat down to talk with him about it, how can you expect it? It isn't that God doesn't already know what we desire, but he may need to help us clarify what it is we need, when the right timing will be, and exactly how he will meet that desire. In asking, we set out our desire. In listening, he often brings clarity we might have missed otherwise.  Ask, seek, and knock. None of these are passive. All suggest an element of us taking some form of action. Receive, find, and open are God's actions on our beha...

Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] (Galatians 6:7 AMP) Deluded - I had to look that one up to make sure I knew the exact meaning. It is more than just being misled - it means the individual actually believes something that is wrong. It is like seeing the color green but believing with all your heart that it is orange. The more someone tries to convince you it is not orange, the more you dig into your misdirected and mistaken belief that it is orange. Deception has many forms. We can bring it on ourselves because we don't want to believe truth, choosing some other 'story' that we tell ourselves because it is more convenient or more 'tolerable' to our taste. It can be thrown out there by others, reported as truth over and over again, until one day we acce...

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. (James 1:2-3 AMP) Okay, not going to sugar coat this one, but trials and temptations are definitely not something I count as wholly joyful! It goes without saying that each of us faces these day-to-day issues designed to keep us from following Jesus as closely as we'd like. They seem to come at us from all sides and definitely feel like they are 'enveloping us' in their snare, don't they? We must learn how to encounter them well, avoiding the snare completely. To that end, it may actually help to understand why we actually encounter these 'moments in time' that are seemingly designed to make us fail. They bring out endurance. Let me be the first to admit that aging has decreased my physical endurance, but my spi...

So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 AMP) The 'to' and 'for' is kind of a different way of interpreting this familiar passage, isn't it? What would you have another do 'to' and 'for' you? If we are honest here, the imperative is that we act or behave in the manner we want others to act or behave toward us. We are always being observed, no matter our 'stature' or 'prominence' in this society. Consider for just a moment some of the behavior we have seen from those in prominent positions. Do they behave with decorum and grace? Or do they behave with a lack of sensitivity toward others? The higher our 'prominence' or 'position' in life, the more we can count on others observing our behavior and adopting similar behavior as 'okay'. It is as though we 'set the norm' for behavior for tho...

For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently. (I Corinthians 10:13 AMP) A long passage for such a short verse, huh? In the more traditional translations, it reads: The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be mo...

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. (Philippians 2:14-16 NLT) Do everything - not some things, or just the things that feel good, but all things. Without complaining or arguing - now scripture has gone to meddling, hasn't it? We might be able to say we are willing to do some things without complaint, but ALL things? The more we complain, the less we invest. The more we argue, the further from the point we find ourselves. No wonder God asks us to do ALL things without complaint or argument! If we want to shine like bright lights in a very dark world, we need to put aside our need to always be right, always be in control, and always be heard. Sometimes we just need ...

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Galatians 5:16 NLT) While none of us is immune to 'cravings', we can do a great deal to 'curb' them. Do a simple Google search and you will find all kinds of ways to 'curb' cravings depending on which type of craving you have. People share their insights into food, substance, or habit cravings in order to help others eliminate their own. It is always wise to learn from others who have gone through and come out the other side of some form of craving, isn't it? Then why would we neglect the guidance of the Holy Spirit in helping to curb the cravings of our sinful nature? It is futile to think we can just 'ignore' sinful cravings. Our sin nature makes those desires known over and over again. We don't know how to curb them on our own, so we need the assistance and wisdom of the one who knows not only what will 'curb' them, but what will a...