The Plumbline

 Oswald Chambers reminds us, "Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time." Do we always understand God's ways? I daresay we might think we have a handle on them at times, but then something comes our way, and there we go wondering if we know his ways at all! Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." The more we don't understand what is happening, the more we need to lean into Jesus and allow him to sort out those things that we must trust the character of our faithful God with as we go through them. Chambers also told us, "When it is a question of God's almighty Spirit, never say, 'I can't'." The truth is, we probably can't, but God can. We must never doubt his Spirit's direction, no matter how frightful it may seem to us to take th...

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. (Charles Spurgeon) Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds. Brothers and sisters, continue to think about what is good and worthy of praise. Think about what is true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. (Philippians 4:5-8) While society pushes for this thing or the other, believers are to be focused on one thing above all - allowing God to develop his character within us through the actions of the Holy Spirit teaching, reminding, and reinforcing the true character of Christ in our live...

Faithful - what does that word mean to you when you hear it spoken?  To many, it carries the idea of being thorough in the performance of one's duty - there is such a strong adherence to the way things are done, not a thing is overlooked or missed.  To others, it may carry the idea of being true to one's word - the person can be counted on to do as he or she has said, simply because they always have.  It also carries the idea of being trusted and reliable - signifying a little bit of both of these meanings - carrying out one's duties with consistency and always being true to one's word.  When we think of the faithfulness of God, do we put him in either of these "boxes", or does his faithfulness bespeak something else?  I wonder how many of us simply look to God as the one who consistently performs his "duties" as God and simply leave it at that. Whatever those duties may be, he is there doing them.  If this is our impression of God's faithfulness...

This past week, our pastor spoke to us about being so familiar with some things in the church, we almost "warp" our beliefs by the familiarity which has become a way of life to us.  Let me explain what he meant with this statement.  We get so familiar with the things of God, we almost take them for granted - taking them for granted leads to us not always developing and keeping a keen awareness of the truth.  We can sometimes "soften" the truth about God's character.  For example, we "believe" God is all powerful - but do we go to him in prayer each and every time we are faced with the impossible? We "believe" God is all knowing, but do we turn to him for the wisdom we need or just try to figure things out on our own.  We can end up in the pursuit of religious thoughts and principles, but miss out on the fact of the powerful God in the midst of our lives.  As Israel was set apart as the nation God would choose to dwell among, he told them to n...