The Plumbline

H.G. Wells said, "If you fell down yesterday, stand up today." Those words may seem rather simple, as we all know the 'action' of 'standing up' once you have fallen down is a little more difficult than we might imagine. I have fallen more than a couple of times in my lifetime, banging up my knees or elbows, but when I was younger, I bounced back from those falls a whole lot quicker than I do in my sixth decade of life! Just because we are 'growing up in Christ' doesn't mean we won't fall, and it certainly doesn't mean a fall will result in us getting up 'easier' just because we 'know Jesus' a little better than we did in our earlier years of following him. Sometimes we just need to cry out for help to get up! It isn't a bad thing to admit we need help, although some may think it is a sign of weakness to admit it.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t b...

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” ...God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. (Romans 15:1-6)  We are to live strong - robust, able to stand up to the tests of life. Strength can be mental power, physical ability, and even moral firmness. It is something developed over time - not something which comes as a matter of inheritance. You can desire to be strong, but what brings strength is the exercise of the strength you possess until you begin to ...

Zig Zigler is credited with the thought of "every obnoxious act being a cry to help." He is definitely onto something there, for some of us who "act out" or "pull in" when we are hurting somewhere on the inside and really don't know what to do with the pain we are feeling. We strike out with words, because words are easy and they seem to inflict just the right amount of venomous pain back at the one we believe has the "right" to feel a little of our pain. We forget the terrible lasting effect of these words, though. We pull in, hunkering down in our place of pouting just because we think if we pull away and nurse our wounds, maybe that will make us feel better. We forget that nursed wounds often don't get the real treatment they require and fester a little bit more than we might like. I'd have to ask us today what our actions might be telling us about where it is or what it is that we need help with today in our lives. Those "obn...