The Plumbline

Get the word out. Teach all these things... Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given...keep that dusted off and in use. Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation. (I Timothy 4:11-16) There is much to be learned, much more to be incorporated into our lives, and way more to we can become consistent in practicing than most of us really want to admit. I always say it is a good day when I have learned something new. It might just be a clever way to recycle some object into a newly purposed item for my home or garden, or something more academic which I can use over and over to solve problems. As I go about the day ...

A good friend gave me some advice that has stuck with me that I would like to share with you again today. She said, "Green is growing, ripe is rotting." At first, this may not seem like a very "profound" truth, but I have often thought on this, mulling over decisions I have made throughout my career, in my home, with my family, and in all kinds of relationships using this simple "rule of thumb". Keep yourself in a place of being just a little greener than you may like, and you won't risk the potential of losing contact with that which will continue to produce life within! I live in a region where citrus grows better than most other fruit. That green orange is on the tree a long, long time before it ever sets its color to resemble an orange. All through that long season of growth, the orange is actually quite green. It isn't that it isn't growing, it is just not "ripening". As soon as it begins to turn its full color, it actually...

Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose. (Philippians 1:21) You never know what your 'platform' will be, do you? You might envision one thing, but God has a different avenue for you to explore and use as the platform by which he is glorified through your life. Paul was in prison and those who had grown close to him in his ministry were concerned that he would no longer have a 'platform' for ministry. He turns that fear around with these words: "...they gave me a platform!" Christ's ...