The Plumbline

The development of habits, thoughts and behaviors comes through both ongoing discipline and repeated instruction. We become proficient at something through the repetitive "doing" or "experiencing" of that task or behavior. God's training of our lives encompasses many aspects, but none so soul-liberating as the ordering of our thought life. The training of God that is directed toward our thought life, bringing into alignment our thoughts with his mind, allows us to develop behaviors that actually build our character on a solid foundation. Train me, God, to walk straight; then I'll follow your true path. Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I'll worship in joyful fear. (Psalm 86:11-12) The ability to walk the path God has laid out for us comes as we are submissive to the training God brings into our life - especially as it applies to our thought life. When I say "submissive" I am not referring to some mamby-pamby kind of respons...

Direct relationship with God - made possible by the blood sacrifice of Christ - is ours today. We can really "live" in his presence - have a life rich in every worthwhile experience, driven by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are no longer to spend all our time and energies gratifying the works of the flesh, but to live according to the Spirit of God that energizes us within. To gratify is to give pleasure to - give satisfaction to through indulging in - to give into sin's pull and the mind's lusts. Did you realize that scripture says we are free of that "pull" that demands 'gratification' now that we are Christ's? But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.  (Galatians 3:25-27) A man's natur...

There is a lovely Christian song by the group 'We Are Messengers' that absolutely catches my heart each time I hear it played on the radio. The words are from the song "Magnify", and they begin with the words: " I've been trying to make sense of the sorrow that I feel, holding onto for life to the only thing that's real. I've only scratched the surface; I've barely had a taste, but just a glimpse draws my heart to change; and one side of you lays my sin to waste. I don't need to see everything, just more of you ." How many of us go through our days just trying to figure out some emotional "sense" we have been experiencing - a sorrow of some kind? I daresay it is far more than might want to admit it. The fact is evident - we all suffer some type of sorrow that kind of hangs us up a while - if only because of our own sinfulness. At those moments, we need to remember one thing - we don't need to understand it all, but we do nee...