The Plumbline

God made all things. And everything continues through him and for him.  (Romans 11:36) God made all things - from the sand at the seashore to the hair on your head. Nothing exists without him. His breathe gave us life and his breathe sustains that life. His blood brings us into his family and his blood ensures we are cleansed of all manner of sin. His word puts all things into motion and sustains all things in perfect order. All things are in his care and under his careful watch - including you! Everything continues - telling words that indicate we don't just "come to Christ" and stagnate! We continue to grow in grace. Can we become something greater than what he calls us to be in his kingdom? Nope, but some will still try to remake their own lives even when the God who made and sustains all things provided all they need to grow in grace. The grace is a gift, but the growth must be intentional. We must press into his grace each day in order to grow in it. It isn't tha...

 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. (Romans 1:20) When you consider all the wonders in nature and the beauty all around us, it is almost impossible to deny the existence of God, but some still do. Why? There is this innate desire to 'explain away' the things we don't understand - the things that are very hard to wrap our heads around. So, we deny the existence of a higher power and say all that is around us is the result of some big bang - it just evolved that way. I have t ask - if it just 'evolved', who put it there in the first place with the capability to 'evolve'? Like it or not, the 'invisible qualities' of God are all around us. We cannot escape the fact that heaven and earth exists and there must be a way it all came together. The more we consider the ...

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. (Psalm 139:13-14) How we come to realize the complexity of our body's structures and systems differs for everyone. Some may discover the uniqueness of their body, how it works, and why each 'part' is so important for the other parts because of illness, while others just discover it through the normal aging process. Bones that moved silently at one time are now creaky and crackle like a bowl of rice cereal. Muscles that once existed on the top of your arms are now like bat wings, jiggling about as you motion with your arms. A heart that once beat without notice may now pound out of your chest with each stair you climb. God made all the 'parts', but the most important part of our body is really our spirit - for it is the place he communes with us...

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God.... (I Peter 3:3-5) I might just burst your bubble today - that new hairstyle is nice, but your real beauty comes from within. The more 'beauty' your heart develops, the greater the true beauty within your life will begin to shine forth. This type of 'beauty' is only possible for those who have said a resounding 'yes' to Jesus' authority in their lives - not a casual acquaintance with him, but a deeply committed relationship with him. Some have used this passage to say we should not wear make-up, dye our hair, or adorn ourselves with jewelry, but this was not the meaning. The goal of these verses is summed up in ...

Most of us would think of a "circumstance" as something which modifies or influences what will happen next - what the outcome will be. When we have the right one in charge of the "circumstances", there is no "modifier" beyond our ability to deal! Do you know what a drought is? It the simplest sense, it is a period of "dryness". Most "dry spells" are not a matter of our doing. They are the result of some "circumstances" beyond our control. In the times of "dryness" there is much at work attempting to modify our responses - perhaps even shaping our outcome. In the time of dryness we have a couple of options: 1) scheme our way through it, figuring and refiguring a way to bring life back ourselves; 2) bolt, looking for refreshment in any other place than where we are at; or 3) hunker down, trusting God for the refreshing rains just around the corner. I don't know about you, but I don't want to the varied circums...

It was Dickens who reminded us that, "the whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." (Charles Dickens) The 'created thing' is loved before it even exists - think on that one a little bit and you might just begin to feel a little differently about yourself. In fact, when you realize that God saw you fully formed, created you specifically for his purposes, and enjoyed you even before he created you - that is the beginning of wisdom! We may not fully understand how he sees each of us, but we can stand assured that he sees us as we are often incapable of seeing ourselves. Just as you’ll never understand the mystery of life forming in a pregnant woman, So you’ll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does. ( Ecclesiastes 11:5 MSG ) What is the 'all that God does' in your life? This is a pretty open-ended qu...

I was watching a show the other day in which a scientist was being ridiculed for his belief in the 'creation story', as they called it. To those who were accusing the scientist of being foolish in his 'fairy-tale' beliefs, there was only one answer to how creation came about - what often is referred to as the big-bang theory. I don't know about you, but I'd rather believe in a truth than a theory! There are just too many 'holes' in that theory to make it truth in my book - especially since my 'book' is the Bible! First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. (Genesis 1:1-2) Imagine all he has formed, all that exists, and all that no longer exists. Things, people, and trends - all have a tendency to come and all will go. As I reflect on the "Creation Story" - t...

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day. ( Psalm 139:13-14 MSG ) Body and soul - marvelously made. Being a nurse, I understand much more about how the body's 'parts' interact - seeing the linked relationships between one system and the other. I studied hours upon hours to learn this stuff - because it helped me to understand the potential cause of my patient's symptoms. Yet, even with all my hours of study, I don't fully understand the human body. I went to Bible College an...

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist at the Hayden Planetarium in New York. You might recognize him from the History Channel's show called "The Universe". He was one of the ones opposing keeping Pluto as a planet and who frequently lectures on the extreme "limitations" of any scientist who believes in "intelligent design". His stand is that to believe there is a God and Creator of the universe is to limit the possibilities of all other 'discoveries'. You can be very well educated in the sense of 'intellectual content' and be very empty when it comes to connection with the God of the Universe! If we truly believe all this beauty and majestic 'inter-working' of all of creation could just occur by a 'big bang' or some 'alignment' of the universe's 'forces', then we are missing out on the most amazing relationship we can have with not just this universe, but with the Creator of it all! We live within ...

Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.  ( John Updike ) Isn't it true that we are always looking for a new way to do things, or perhaps a new take on a matter? I don't care how many photos I take of the landscape, or things found in nature, no two are quite alike. Something different is there each time - maybe the light, or even the focus - but something is just a little different from the last view. Do I take these time and time again because I am impulsive or compulsive in my actions? No, I do it because there is something "divine" in the work of capturing that new image! After all, isn't it the process of change and creating that the Master is continuously engaged in within us? They all depend on you to give them food as they need it. When you supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied. But if you turn away from them, they panic. When you take away their breath...

Charles Eames said, "Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design." He was an American designer made famous during the 50's and 60's. He worked with is wife in a design business, whose mission was to create the first types of furniture which could be "mass produced" in warehouses and sold to the millions. He is also known for saying, "Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose." Sometimes we see all the elements (pieces) in life, but we really cannot break past the mess of the pieces to see the design which those pieces can produce. We might recognize the need for a particular thing to occur, but we just don't know how all the pieces of life we are juggling at the moment all come together to create anything even remotely like what our "condition" demands. We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we...

There are times you just read over stuff in the scriptures and totally miss what is being said.  You can do this year after year, without even "getting" something. I kind of think this may be on purpose because God has a season and a specific time for certain things to catch our attention.  In those moments, he pours something into our lives by sometimes even the shortest of passages. What we do with what God gives us is ours to determine - he can provide the feeding, but he cannot force feed us.  He can spoon feed us, but he doesn't cram it down our throats!  One thing is for sure - remain open to what he provides and you will have your "fill" of good things and "stuff" you can actually use in your own life!  Did you ever stop to consider for just a moment how much "scripture" is declared in the things around you, not just in the written words between those leather bindings you call a Bible?  It is true, for even the heavens tell of his glo...

I think we humans sometimes forget just who is in control of this entire universe and who it is who actually holds all things in motion.  We forget that our sphere of control is not really our own - but is something "granted" to us by a loving and caring God.  Lest we get ourselves all puffed up and proud about what it is we do, possess, etc., let us remember it is God who "lets" us rule everything his hands have made!  Sometimes we think it is the other way around - we do all the making and ask God to have a little oversight into the matter!  If we were to be totally honest, we actually have the intelligence we have to create because the Creator gave us that small bit of intelligence we possess! I often think of the heavens your hands have made, and of the moon and stars you put in place.  Then I ask, “Why do you care about us humans?  Why are you concerned for us weaklings?”  You made us a little lower than you yourself, and you have crowned u...

Have you ever read a portion of scripture so many times, you just gloss over it because you think you are already "familiar" with it?  What happens is we tell our brains we already know the "story".  It is like when we asked mom or dad to read us the bedtime story for the 2,000th time!  We didn't need them to read it out loud because we could have just looked at the pictures and told THEM the story!  It wasn't that we memorized it - we remembered enough of the details to "tell the story".  I like to go back to some of my favorite portions of scripture frequently because they have challenged me, given me hope, set my thinking straight, etc.  I count on what happened before to give me something "new" this time around.  The most amazing thing about scripture - it almost always does this when we come with an open mind and a seeking heart! God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of ...

Incapable:  Not having the necessary ability, qualifications, or strength to perform.  Some of us might even equate being "incapable" to being incompetent - lacking not only the strength, but also the knowledge behind the needed action.  If you asked me to fix the engine on my car, I'd admit I am incompetent - I don't have the strength to do some of the work anymore, and I sure don't have the knowledge to know how all those pieces fit together so they work exactly as they are designed.  I could go to school to learn the "how to", but it is not until I have practiced it a while that I develop some of the skill to actually say I am "good" at the task.  Yet something is still lacking  in the picture - I may know how it is supposed to all work, but I still am not as familiar with the engine as is the creator of the engine!  The creator has the most intimate knowledge because he envisioned it before it took form, designing each "mov...

With your very own hands you formed me;  now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you.   When they see me waiting, expecting your Word,        those who fear you will take heart and be glad.  (Psalm 119:73-74 The Message) The term "take heart" means to gain strength and courage in a difficult situation.  David reminds us that the example we exhibit in the times of waiting on God to act has the potential of causing others to take heart - - to gain strength and courage for their own difficult circumstances.  In the midst of difficulty, what makes you stand strong? According to our author, it is the confidence he has in the one who has created him.  It goes without saying that the one doing the "assembling" of the pieces of our lives is the best to address the pressures that come against those "pieces".  I have sewn a few things in my days.  By the time I finished with the assembly...

30-33 "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with  getting ,  so you can respond to God's  giving . People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." (Matthew 6:30-33) I had never really considered the fact that most of the wildflowers in the world go completely unnoticed by human eye.  They spring forth from the hard soil of the earth, struggle against the elements, bloom in all their majesty, and no one ever sets an eye on them!  Then there are the potted flowers I buy from the nursery with high hopes they will adorn my flowerbe...

9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering life he brings into Light.  He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice.  He came to his own people, but they didn't want him.  But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, he made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.  These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. (John 1:9-13) It would be quite easy to read the first chapter of John and pass over the passages that are familiar to some and seem "cursory" to others.  In considering the truths laid out in this passage, several things come into view when we stop to dig a little deeper: Jesus is the "real thing" - many years ago, Coca-Cola entered onto the market and began a marketing campaign calling Coke the "real thing".  It ...

1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.  (Genesis 1:1-2) I awoke this morning thinking about God's creation - all he has formed, all that exists, and all that no longer exists.  Things, people, and trends - all have a tendency to come and all will go.  As I reflected on the "Genesis Story" - the record of creation - I marveled at the awesome order in which God put things together.  Consider this: Light and Darkness - the first to be created.  Why?  Well, it is pretty obvious - without light, the rest could not be appreciated.  That is the way it is in our lives - without the light of Christ shining bright in our hearts, there is no fullness of appreciation of what he has done. Sky and Sea - has it ever occurred to you what a miracle it is that the oceans stay where they are - se...