The Plumbline

O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. (Psalm 25:1-3) If you have ever approached God with a bit of 'hey, God, I need your help' prayers, then you know how it is to feel a bit useless, helpless, and at risk for some reason. There is absolutely no better place to take your 'hey, God, I need your help' issues, for he is the only one capable to meet those needs. No one who trusts in God to help will ever be disappointed, or stand in the midst of the battle disgraced or defeated. Disgrace might be the loss of respect for some, but it can also be the feeling of shame that comes from doing something we might now find ourselves regretting painfully. God's answer to that feeling of shame is repentance - to turn away from whatever brought those feelings and embrace his grace. There is absol...

C.S. Lewis reminds us, " God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. " I think we look a whole lot of places for happiness - from within relationships to the things we purchase. We look for peace but find circumstances and attitudes that don't really support it. How are we to find peace if it is so elusive? Romans 8:5-7 tells us, " Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. " Perhaps the only way we find true and lasting peace is to allow peace to actually enter into each of us by saying 'yes' to Jesus! The sinful nature wants to dominate us - to in...

Has anyone or anything been disturbing your peace lately? If you watch the evening news, there are reports of mass shootings, angry confrontations between this group or that, natural disasters sweeping away those in their path, homes destroyed by fires, and families torn apart by things way beyond their control. Indeed, there are a plethora of things that can disturb our peace in a matter of seconds, but we don't have to allow our peace to be destroyed by any of these things or people. God's peace is capable of surpassing whatever seeks to disturb it. The way peace is maintained is also the way it is attained - we place our trust in the One True God. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:3-4) What are 'fixed thoughts'? If you are like me, your mind can ramble right along from one thought to the next without taking a breather at all. We can get ...

We all live extremely busy lives, experiencing some level of a lack of "togetherness" in our days, but it is not to be the "norm" for us. In fact, God wants us to learn to rely upon him bringing things "together" FOR us rather than us having to do all the work ourselves. We "enter into" what God has for us - in turn, he enters into us and begins to set things in right order which are kind of helter-skelter within us. In the end, he begins to effect changes to the things in our days we cannot handle apart from his grace and action helping us to "get through"! By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the ...

Something that has become quite apparent to me after viewing ad after ad on TV, in the magazines, and on social media is the fact most of us seeing these ads had absolutely no idea we actually "needed" or "wanted" this stuff until we saw it! Have you ever seen those little videos featuring some product they 'found' on some shopping site and didn't know they needed? That's what I am talking about. It is just like us humans to be content with what has worked for so long until we see the next amazing device and then our appetite is whet! We want it! Wouldn't it just dazzle God to no end if we had such a tremendous desire for the things he reveals to us of his power, grace, and truth? You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. (Matthew 5:5) The ads cultivate a sense of "need" for somethings we had no previous desire for -...