The Plumbline

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. (I John 3:18-22 NLT) How many times have we experienced the 'do as I say and not as I do' scenario in life? If you are honest, you probably have actually done opposite of what you know is right to do on more than one occasion. When our testimony (what we say) isn't matching what we do, there is a disconnect somewhere. One of the things I needed to learn in life is that what I say doesn't matter if what I do doesn't line up with the things God wants me to pursue and emulate in life. Let's not merely SAY that ...

Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NLT) Since we believe - prior to our point of believing in Christ as our Savior, we merely saw him from a human point of view. We interpreted everything in scripture from a human point of view. We saw nothing divine in him, nor did we really understand why the commandments given to us in scripture could actually be for our benefit and blessing.  When we see God's Words from a merely human point of view, the things G...

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10 NLT) So rich in kindness and grace. This really paints the picture of our loving and gracious God, doesn't it? We don't deserve his 'richness', but in spite of all our sin, he loves us so much. Our freedom from sin - our way out of all hurtful and harmful habits and hangups - is given in Christ Jesus. His kindness will never be 'repaid' by anything we do or say. We can but revel in his grace and worship him. God's plan? To bring us back into right relationship with him - no longer captive to sin; no longer given ove...

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT) If you are reading this passage for the hundredth time, it is still possible God will bring to light something that 'hits home' with you, isn't it? Therefore - because of the finished work of the Cross. Since we are surrounded - there are both good examples of our faith and those we can learn from because they did stuff we do. Let us strip off every weight - there are more things that slow us down in our faith journey than there are things that seem to be encouraging us to move forward. It takes a conscious effort to see the things that encourage us to move on and then neglect to pay attention to those things that wa...

The crucible tests silver, and the furnace tests gold, but the one who tests hearts is Adonai. (Proverbs 17:3 CJB) Adonai - Lord or Master - the one with ultimate authority. He is the one who tries the heart, revealing the true intent of a man's character. We may think we know our heart well, but in actuality, God knows it much better than we do ourselves. That is why we trust him to not only have our heart, but to reveal what is in there that needs to be built up or changed entirely. The crucible of affliction is nothing we like to endure, but what gets revealed in times of affliction might just give us a little bit of revelation as to who we are, what we believe, who we trust in, and what motivates us from within. It could be we discover some truths about ourselves that we didn't even know were present in our lives - like lust, prideful thoughts, or malicious plans. When God reveals, he also sets about to 'root out' those things that only the fire of his Spirit can r...

Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord. Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him. The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the Lord will protect his people. (Psalm 14:4-6 NLT) If you have ever encountered someone who just never seems to learn from their life lessons, you might have asked if they will never learn. Sometimes it takes what seems like forever for them to turn around and realize the direction they chose for their life was pretty bad. On more than one occasion, I have looked at my own life choices and said to myself, "There but for the grace of God go I." The grace of God pulled me away from those wrong paths - it is the one thing that separated me from my own foolish actions. How about you? Can you say that the grace of God has redeemed you from some stuff that wasn't all that good for you? God is with those who obey him. These aren't just words on a pag...

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:20-23 NLT) Most of us have heard that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. How many of us have actually read the previous verses? We WERE slaves to sin - having absolutely NO obligation to do right but choosing quite frequently to do whatever it was that gave us satisfaction or a thrill. The result was an overwhelming load of guilt and shame. A burden we weren't designed to carry! Slaves don't really cater to the 'obligation' to more than one master, do they? They serve one, following whatever desires...

Albert Pike said, "We have all the light we need, we just need to put it into practice." We might think we need more of everything, including knowledge, but the sad truth is that many of us don't even use the knowledge we have been given! What is missing is the 'practice' behind that knowledge. God's Word reminds us, "So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 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." (James 1:21-23 NLT) We must 'humbly accept' God's word into our lives, doing what it says - putting it into practice, not just gaining knowledge about what he says. Therein is the rub - we read and read, but the words on the pages of the book just don't seem to draw us into c...

Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NLT) It is indeed good news that our 'old life' is no longer in control of our daily activities, isn't it? No longer living for ourselves, but living for Christ Jesus, the very one who gave his life for us. The one thing that happens when we live this 'exchanged life' that we often don't recognize is how it changes our view of everyone else around us. We don't see them the same because we are viewing t...

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious. (Herodotus) Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. (Proverbs 18:24 MSG) We might think being surrounded with a multitude of people we refer to as 'friends' is always a good thing, but as you may have already figured out, not all 'friends' will be there when you are going through a tough time. Mom always used to quote this passage to me when I bemoaned not having 'friends' like all the other kids my age did. She'd remind me that to have a friend, one needed to show himself or herself as a friend FIRST. That meant this introvert needed to be a little more outgoing! It took me years and a whole lot of time alone with Jesus to actually become a little more of an extravert, but it didn't come naturally to me. I found myself wanting to draw back, hide behind whatever mask was available, and just 'be there' without really being there. If that might hit home for you, the...

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:5-8 NLT) Our psalmist gives us insight into victory in our lives. He says it quite clearly: "Let all that I am wait quietly before God." Why? There is no greater hope than his protection and his 'oversight' of our lives. We might think it is a bit of a waste of time to take time each day to center ourselves on him, studying his Word, and just getting his insight. If we want a life filled with the 'unknown' and 'chaos', this might be the way to go. If we want one of order and insight, we might want to try waiting quietly before him for even a little while! Waiting doesn't mean we aren't doing anything. It means ...

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12:6-8 NLT) In his grace - we have been given - no one is left out. Too many times, I hear believers say they aren't 'gifted' with certain 'talents' or 'abilities', but they totally neglect to even ask God how he can use their unique talents or abilities. You may not be called to preach from the pulpit, but you might be able to mow a senior's lawn. You might not be great with bookkeeping, but you can watch a frazzled mom's kiddos while she gets a much-deserv...

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (I John 1:8-9 NLT) You might be acquainted with the story recorded for us in the book of John where Jesus is teaching a crowd of people when the Pharisee leaders bring a woman to him who was caught in adultery. They expect him to back them up in their desire to stone the woman to death. Jesus' simple statement really puts grace on display for us, "let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone..." Before too much time passed, all her accusers turned around and silently left the scene. His next words are even more telling as it comes to seeing the impact of grace, "Didn’t even one of them condemn you...neither do I. Go and sin no more.” The truth is that we have ALL sinned - we ALL need grace. We ALL need to embrace the words, "Go and sin no more....

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6 NLT) Our rebellion - our sins. Jesus didn't come to do 'good works' or present 'signs and wonders' just for show. He came because our rebellious, sinful nature required a completely pure and holy sacrifice in order to rightly restore all who would call upon Christ. Our rebellion - it made us less than perfect. Our sin - it created places of brokenness and hurts within us that nothing else can ever 'fix'. We left God's paths in order to follow our own. That is the heart of rebellion. It wasn't that the path was 'vague' or without wayfinding signs along it. We just chose a different path. It was that pathway into rebellion and sin that required a Savior and it was that...

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. (James 1:5-8 NLT) If you need wisdom - who on earth doesn't need a little insight into what is transpiring in their lives from time to time? Oh, I imagine there are some who will tell me it isn't necessary to seek 'outside help' because they are capable of figuring things out on their own. I will have to say there are some who will plug right along without ever seeking God's wisdom in a matter and they might just do 'okay'. I choose to do better than 'okay' in life, though, so I seek God's wisdom in ma...

Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out. (Robert Collier) So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (I Corinthians 15:58 NLT) Consistency in following Jesus is our goal. We don't do this with the greatest of ease, do we? We have these little fits and starts that keep us moving forward at a snail's pace sometimes. It is that 'sporadic' on again - off again walk that makes it seem like it is impossible to actually get anywhere in this spiritual walk. We might want to rethink that, though. Jesus might like to see our consistency, but he can definitely work with our 'sporadic' fits and starts! While the goal is to be strong and immovable, always 'spot on' in our commitment, we need not be down on ourselves when we find ourselves growing a little 'cold' in our commitments to prayer, worship, or even study...

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. (Jerremiah 17:7-8 NLT) Long months of drought. Heat that scorches and dries. Those are things that most of us want to avoid, not just 'survive', aren't they? The longer we live on this earth, the chances are good that we will endure some 'scorching heat' and 'drought'. If not in our natural world, then in our spiritual lives. The droughts in a spiritual sense are kind of like very dry seasons that are marked by us not really feeling all that 'connected' to God. It is like we just don't 'feel' his presence, much less feel like what we are doing to maintain that relationship is really 'working'. We might read our ...

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. (I Peter 2:2-3 NLT) Newborn babes cry out when they are hungry, don't they? Having an empty belly as a baby is cause for concern, causing them to raise their cries in order to have their need met. In much the same way, we might just realize we are 'spiritually' quite hungry, running on almost empty, desperately needing a 'refill' of our 'spiritual tank'. We might find ourselves 'crying out', hungry for more of God's presence, desperate for a touch from him. When we cry out, do you think God hears us? Does he have the exact 'resource' we need in order for our 'hunger' to be met? Is he going to ignore our need and give us something entirely different? He hears, he responds, and he has exactly what we need, even when we don't realize...