The Plumbline

'Keeping up with the Joneses' It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are lost. (Mark 8:36) There used to be a saying that implicated the "Joneses'" as having so much and everyone trying to keep up with them. While the saying may not be as popular today, the desire to 'keep up' is always around us in society. We are marketed the fastest internet, the most expansive cell and data plans, the best hotel accommodations, and the biggest houses with the most 'toys' to enjoy on the weekends. Regardless of the current 'trends', the root problem still is man's extreme 'pride'. We desire some of the 'worst' things for ourselves, all because someone else has it or is doing it. All the while, Jesus is just sitting there asking for us to take as much interest in him as we do in 'keeping up'! Did you realize that the phrase, "Keeping us with the Joneses" actually dates back to 1913? It has...

Abraham Lincoln once said that 'tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.' If you are anything like me, the 'brutality' of that honesty can sometimes sting! I don't always see myself through the eyes of Jesus, although I should. There are times when I see myself through the eyes of others - giving into their harsh judgments about the way I am behaving. In school, that got me into a whole lot of trouble! I would do things contrary to what I knew to be right just because I wanted to be 'accepted' by the 'in crowd'. I did things I wasn't comfortable doing. I followed - they led. There is but one leader worth following - Christ. There is but one estimation of our worth and goodness that really matters - Christ's. None of us 'better' or 'worse' than the next person, but we sometimes think we are. It might just be time to see ourselves through the eyes of Jesus just a bit more - seeing ourselves through the eyes...

God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it . Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2) The way we think is the determining factor in how we perceive the circumstance in front of us right now. In changing the 'way' we think, we can be transformed. When we ask God, he tends to give us a different perspective than we've been seeing through our own eyes. There are some of us who go through life just feeling like 'come what may', we ar...

Have you ever been accused of taking yourself too seriously? It could be you just cannot get past the bad habit of thinking of yourself as superior in some way, or deserving of more distinction than someone else for something you may have done. For some reason, you might find yourself getting a little pretentious, attempting over and over again to win someone's affections, or receive some kind of 'merit' by pushing your 'good deeds' as 'deserving' of some kind of notice. Since I could put myself in this boat on occasion, let me just say that it might not have occurred to any of us yet, but it could just be that those 'good deeds' we are counting on as getting us some kind of 'merit' with another are really what was reasonable in the first place - they weren't really all that 'above and beyond' actions on our part. There are times we push ourselves forward, demanding something more than we should, and it makes others uncomfortable....

Some of us have quite a struggle with comparing ourselves to others. Are we thinner or fatter than that other person? Do our earnings outdo theirs? Does our sense of style reveal we have at least kept up with the current century while others have lagged behind? We engage in all manner of comparison and that moment we begin to compare ourselves to another is the moment we open ourselves up to envy, jealousy, strife, and riffs in relationship. Why is that? I think it just might be that Christ never intended for us to compare ourselves to another human - because we are ALL flawed in some manner. His intent was that we compliment each other - not compete! In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, w...

Robert Frost once quipped, "A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone." So true, isn't it? We find ourselves saying thing such as, "I wish I could...", "I wish I had...",  or even "I wish I hadn't..." In the dreams of tomorrow and the wistful contemplation of our yesterday, we find ourselves "wishing" our lives away! Our psalmist was having one of those moments where he began to envy all the things he saw those around him doing, acquiring, and being given - his words might just betray our hearts a little, as well. " For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else. "  Have you ever found yourself saying something similar to this? We don't "get" ho...

If you have ever formed a higher opinion of yourself than what another might see, I don't think you are alone.  In fact, there are times in our lives when we just naturally think of ourselves as doing a better job than another, performing a bit stronger than another, or just plain more beautiful or handsome than another.  What is happening when we are forming this "self opinion"?  We are comparing ourselves to another's appearance, performance, or accomplishments.  Risky business, at best, because we ALWAYS stand the chance someone will come along who out-performs, out-shines, and out-classes us!  Perhaps this is why scripture warns us against such comparison, but it is also why scripture reminds us of our "equality" as human beings.  ALL have fallen short of the glory of God.  ALL have sinned.  ALL have no ability to get this redemption thing right under their own power.  ALL need a Savior. Plain and simple - none of us out-performs, out-sh...

There is something unique about a thankful heart.  If you have ever been around someone who really practices a lifestyle of gratitude, you know what I mean.  Another word for gratitude is gratefulness.  I sometimes think this character trait is linked to a similar trait - being graceful.  Grateful people have a way of exuding grace in some of the most unlikely ways, don't they? Our "G" list of character traits - grace and gratitude. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.  (Colossians 3:15-17 MSG) As Paul ...

Oh, that my steps might be steady,  keeping to the course you set;     then I'd never have any regrets  in comparing my life with your counsel.  (Psalm 119:5-6 The Message) What is it you compare your life to?  Is it another individual?  Perhaps it is a set of rules or standards you strive to adhere to.  Or maybe it is an illusion of perfection you set up as a "desired outcome".  Either way, you will be disappointed in comparing your "progress" in life to any of these!  When we compare ourselves to others, we can do one of two things - either we get really humbled by their actions (making us feel guilty), or we feel like we showed them up (making us feel really proud).  If we spend all our time trying to "live by the rules", we sometimes get so bogged down in the rules we miss the life that is happening all around us.  Most of us have had some type of illusion of perfection in our minds at one time or another - it does ...

1-5  No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted.  But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness.  I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.  (Psalm 73:1-5) Have you ever found yourself in the place of envying those at the top?  We have a tendency to "elevate" some to levels of prominence in our society.  If they are educated and well-spoken, we find ourselves wondering why we cannot say things so eloquently.  If they are financially successful, we wonder how they got all the breaks.  If they are in a tremendous relationship with another individual, we find ourselves bemoaning that we are not.  Guess what?  Envy is more common than we might think! David is being pretty honest with us here in this passage.  He reminds us that ...

 1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor." (Matthew 7:1-5) I am probably not the only one that felt a little "picked on" in elementary school.  In fact, there are actual laws on the books today to deal with what you and I just simply had to muddle through - they are called "anti-bullying laws".  The instruction we received from our parents and school counselors was that the t...

  1-5  No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted.  But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness.  I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.  (Psalm 73:1-5) It is easy for us to envy the rich, the famous, the successful in society.  We see just one side of their lives, though - that which is public and which "appears" to be glamorous.  There used to be a show on called "The Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous".  When that show hit the screen in 1984, it was all that people could flock to see.  Robin Leach would end each show with his raising of a glass of champaign and his signature salutation, "Champaign Wishes & Caviar Dreams".   That show was one of our first glimpses at "reality television" in an era tha...