The Plumbline

My neighbor is getting ready to move. He has been busy cleaning out his garage and backyard shed - places where we know things 'gather', sometimes without us even noticing! He is getting it ready to be purchased - knowing the new 'owners' won't want all his excess stuff just hanging around when they take ownership. When we are bought with a price, there is an exchange of ownership. This exchange of ownership is to have an effect on us. The first thing we should notice is that there is a desire for cleansing. We want to have things in our life that are not honoring to God dealt with and removed so that we can move on.  God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it's ...

What does straw have in common with wheat?    Nothing else is like God's Decree. Isn't my Message like fire?" God's Decree.    "Isn't it like a sledgehammer busting a rock? (Jeremiah 23:29) To a farmer, a crop of straw has little value compared to wheat.  Each has its purpose, but what is yielded in the return of the seed planted is much greater to the farmer with wheat than it is with straw.  If all the farmer is doing is raising a bunch of cattle, the straw might have a purpose - but it still has a very limited purpose.  God's word is as different from the words of others as wheat is from straw.  There is something infinitely more valuable in his word than that of man, no matter what authority that man may claim to have. Israel finds themselves in a position of having drifted from what God had intended for them as a nation - they were in a position of seeking visions and messages from their prophets.  Yet, these visions and m...