The Plumbline

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12) A little earlier in this chapter, we are told that 'if we don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father' and perhaps this is the best advice we could have when it relates to facing 'testing challenges' in life. There are far more times we face those challenges without a clear plan on how to 'handle' the challenge. We want to make it through unscathed, but we know that a whole bunch of stuff is about to be unleashed, and we are in for a whopper of a 'beat down' if we don't get some clarity quickly. At that moment, we can meet it head-on, but to do so without God's perspective on the matter would be sheer foolishness. The testing challenge may be what reveals to us just how deep our loyalty is to God. It is where the rubber meets the road in our faith walk,...

Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. (Psalm 63:3-6) When you aren't 'dealt' the hand you expected, how do you respond? To be honest with you, I don't always immediately praise God for the 'lousy hand'. Sometimes I gripe about it, chafe against it, and get a little too 'me' focused right there in the midst of the 'hardship' I am enduring. "Me" comes first and "me" is not feeling like it is getting the 'best shake' in the moment, so "me" begins to resist and complain. Been there? Got the shirt and wore it out? Good! Sometimes our life is even turned upside down by the 'hand' we receive - what was up is now down, and the ground underneath us is quite shaky. When we 'receive' that 'hand', we might just fo...

May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other. And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6) Harmony is not achieved by our own merits, for no set of humans actually 'live in harmony' with another set of humans without some form of conflict from time to time. As long as atoms keep crashing together, there will be some form of conflict, BUT...God can bring patience where conflict seems to abound, steadiness where the foundation has begun to crumble, and tremendous encouragement to keep moving toward agreement and peace.  How is complete harmony ever going to happen? Those who have embraced Christ as their Lord and Savior will be at the forefront of peaceful actions. They will bring a steadfastness into the most difficult of circumstances - a peace and assurance that stands w...

Life Hack #25: According to Webster, a crisis is a "turning point" in a set of circumstances where the future outcome is determined . The point of crisis in any issue we face is pivotal to where we will end up - it is not 'pre-determined' for it to end one way. Understanding how to hold up in the midst of the "point of turning" can be the most important part of actually making it through. Most of us just think of a crisis as something ugly happening to us at the moment and it is a little difficult to endure. If we begin to see it as a "turning point", we might just handle it differently. We might just decide we don't like what is determined and embrace a different path back into the arms of Jesus! If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place. (Proverbs 24:10) In times of crises the things we focus on make all the difference. If all we see is the insurmountable odds against us, we will tend to see only the...

I stand silently before the Lord, waiting for him to rescue me. For salvation comes from him alone. Yes, he alone is my Rock, my rescuer, defense and fortress. Why then should I be tense with fear when troubles come? (Psalm 62:1-2) Joyce Meyer says, "The eagle has no fear of adversity. We need to be like the eagle and have a fearless spirit of a conqueror." As you might imagine, standing 'silently' in the midst of situations where you can be pretty apprehensive or that evoke the 'fight or flight' response is doggone hard. While fear has a 'paralyzing' effect in most of us, we experience and immediate 'ramping up' of all those stress hormones that make us ready to bolt. Adversity comes our way, and we just don't know what to do with it. Is that really true? Don't we know we are supposed to take it to the Lord and allow him to show us how it is to be dealt with? Yes, we 'know' that, but do we actually believe it and stand firm in...

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. (Hal Borland) With just a few short days left in this year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect over the past couple of very challenging years. This pandemic has been astronomically difficult for a great many - losses abounding all around us. Families have lost loved ones - homes emptied of fathers, mothers, siblings - never to be quite the same again. Lives have been changed as bodies may have 'recovered' per medical standards, but the tell-tale signs of this awful disease linger on in the core of their being. Social gatherings have been curtailed, scaled-down, or not held at all - leaving many lonely, fearful, and without support. Masks have become a permanent part of the wardrobe of many - covering over smiles, hiding fear, and leaving us wondering what a person really looks like underneath it all. As we ponder the passing of these two very challenging yea...

Were you fortunate to have the kind of friend on the playground who actually stood up for you when the bullies came to make trouble for you? I remember more than one of those occasions when the group of playground thugs would be headed my way - a loner on the playground, nary a friend close by to stand up for me. It made me very uncomfortable and the rest of the day usually went fairly poorly because others would have observed their ability to put me down, driving home some point about how I didn't really 'fit' in their crowd. Amazing what a bully can do to one's self-worth - making one feel lower than dirt. I no longer face 'bullies' in this life alone - Christ stands up for me! Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against evil workers? If God hadn’t been there for me, I never would have made it. The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,” your love, God, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down...

Out of difficulties grow miracles. (Jean de la Bruyere) Miracles still happen, but when we don't find ourselves on the receiving end of a miracle, how do we respond? There will be times when we celebrate nonetheless - because we know God is still in control of the circumstances. There may also be times when we begin to realize we have hardened our hearts toward God because we didn't receive the miracle we sought. At others, we may see something that resembles a miracle and walk away totally unaffected by it. How can there be so many responses to God's presence in the midst of his people? I think it all comes down to the condition of the heart. The more we are hardened to the grace and love of God, the less likely we will be to recognize his presence in the small or large miracles we observe all around us. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They did exactly as the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw the stick down in front of Pharaoh and his officials. It turned into a sna...

I once heard it said, "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal".  I think Henry Ford may have been the originator of this quote.  There is some wisdom in this statement as we all seem to lose focus on the mission, if even for a temporary span of time, when we get wrapped up in the obstacles in our midst.  Booker T. Washington said, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome."  An obstacle is anything or anyone that "obstructs" our vision, progress, or stand.  It almost blocks our passage from one point to the other.  If you are like me, these are annoyances which you "deal with" and then move on.  I sometimes "paint myself into a corner", then am left trying to figure a way out.  How about you?  The truth is, there has never been an obstacle (or a corner) which God has not been there with the wisdom to help me through it (or around it). So ...

There are times when we feel like no one is "in charge" - the moments just seem to tick on and all the chaos of the moment keeps us bumping into all kinds of obstacles.  We all face these times - the times when life deals us a hand we just would rather not play!  When "dealt our hand", we can either throw it in, ante up and play, or bluff our way through.  Which way are you facing what life deals you today? 3-4  The day my enemies turned tail and ran,  they stumbled on you and fell on their faces.  You took over and set everything right;  when I needed you, you were there, taking charge.  (Psalm 9:3-4 The Message) If we throw in our hand right now, we may miss out on the reward which awaits us!  If we are bluffing our way through - faking it until we make it - we may not always be able to keep up the facade!  But...if we ante up, pick up our cards, and play like there is no tomorrow, no telling what we may end up with!   Tak...

 Remember what you said to me, your servant— I hang on to these words for dear life!    These words hold me up in bad times;  yes, your promises rejuvenate me.  (Psalm 119:49-50 The Message) Bumper stickers abound in our society today.  An individual is able to post almost any viewpoint for public display simply by attaching one of these "emblems" of opinion on their vehicle.  There have been times I have tried to pull just a little closer in order to read the small print!  Something caught my eye and I wanted to know what it said!  On occasion, they make me laugh.  Sometimes I have to turn away because the words are less than uplifting.  At others, they give me a moment to pause and think.  Each has its impact, does it not? In the times David penned these words, bumper stickers were not invented.  The use of mass publication was not even possible.  The scriptures were handwritten, kept by only a few in religious s...

  8 "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world." (Matthew 5:8) 2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-4) We all have differing responses when we are "challenged" - some rise up, take the bulls by the horns and plunge right in - still others withdraw a safe distance, consider their options and seemingly take forever to respond to the challenge.  Regardless of how we face life when we are "challenged", it is important to keep in mind that each challenge carries a purpose.  As Jesus taught on the Mount that day, he turned to his disciples (those closest to him) and reminded them tha...

Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of- God ,   insight into life from knowing a Holy God.   It's through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens,   and the years of your life ripen.   Live wisely and wisdom will permeate your life;   mock life and life will mock you. (Proverbs 9:10-12) A man or woman of wisdom understands clearly the value of a rebuke - their response is to embrace it with a desire to learn and to change, if necessary.  There is a desire to leave "foolish ways" behind and to learn how to make wise and learned decisions.  Solomon reminds us that the starting point of such a life is the "fear of the Lord".   Wisdom "benefits" us - it adds to our days, creates opportunities, and opens up new things to us.  When we embrace a lifestyle of "folly", we miss these "benefits".  Folly is simply the lack of understanding, or the "sense" to avoid those wrong turns in life.  There are lots of reasons why we...