The Plumbline

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-10 MSG) Flourishing love is evident in all our actions - not just some of them, when the urge strikes, towards the individuals we find 'worthy' of that love. Loving 'appropriately' means that we don't let our feelings determine who we love or when we reveal love's actions toward anyone. Feelings get the best of us many times and we stop short of expressing true love in humility and kindness just because we didn't 'feel like it' at that moment. Jesus reminds us that love conquers our fee...

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? ...We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us. (2 Corinthians 2:15-17) Our lives are to be a fragrant thing. We actually exude an aroma of grace when we are followers of Christ. There is a scent you may not recognize behind that one of grace, though - the scent of accountability. Grace exudes a fragrance because forgiveness brings a releasing of a burden we could not bear up under any longer. A truthful heart that makes the connection with Jesus on an ongoing basis exudes the aroma of accountability - a transformed life always requires a spirit of willing submission. The fragrance our lives gi...

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8) Moral turpitude is a big way of saying a person exhibits behavior that is CONTRARY to the standards set forth by law, a community, or God. When someone has a problem with their behavior that is contrary to these standards, they're exhibiting behavior that may be vile, shameful or even corrupt. God's plan is for us to grow in his grace - to develop a moral standard that matches his standards. He took great pains to lay out those standards for us in scripture. Are we taking as grea...

 Out of difficulties grow miracles. (Jean de la Bruyere) We don’t want people to find anything wrong with our work. So, we do nothing that will be a problem to others. But in every way, we show that we are servants of God. We never give up, even though we face troubles, difficulties, and problems of every kind. We are beaten and thrown into prison. People get upset at us and fight against us. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. We show that we are God’s servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, by speaking the truth, and by depending on God’s power. This right way of living has prepared us to defend ourselves against every kind of attack. (2 Corinthians 6:3-7) The followers of Christ are never guaranteed an 'easy path' - they are just guaranteed the presence of God with them on that path! We will face difficulties in life, but we have to choose how we will allow those ...

Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. (Romans 12:3) You will discover one of the most frequented topics in scripture is grace. Themes of justice, purity, and such things as undivided attention abound. Through all the themes in scripture, this thought of grace is interwoven. In justice (right conduct, moral decisions) we find grace - unmerited favor - for not all our conduct is right, nor are all our decisions solid in a moral sense. In purity or righteousness (the state of being good, honest, fair and right) we recognize the prominence of grace, for not all our thoughts will be good, words honest, actions fair, or behaviors right. God's grace is undeserved - but nothing is more needed in our lives t...