The Plumbline

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. (Saitt Basil) What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. (James 2:17-17) A man by his deeds - what we do matters more than whatever it is we 'plan' to do, doesn't it? We make all kinds of grand plans, but we seldom carry them out to fruition, at least not to full fruition. The small plans acted upon lead to greater plans, until one day, we see 'full fruition' of the plans we have submitted to God and listened...

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...

One more thing, friends: Pray for us. Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response, just as it did among you. And pray that we’ll be rescued from these troublemakers who are trying to do us in. I’m finding that not all “believers” are believers. But the Master never lets us down. He’ll stick by you and protect you from evil. (2 Thessalonians 3:3) A groundswell of response - have you ever been in a crowd and begun to actually 'feel' that groundswell of response? It is almost palpable, isn't it? The crowd gets pumped up, they begin to sway, or jump up and down, or cheer like fanatics. All of a sudden, the masses are consumed in the response. It is hard to just sit there and do 'nothing'. At some point, you get sucked in, don't you? It could be in a positive way, or just the opposite - your emotions may take you down a path of disappointment, fear, or even grief. Usually a groundswell is a positive thin...