The Plumbline

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:18-20) The one set free from a lifetime of torment and torture was not always so 'grateful' and 'trusting' toward Jesus. When Jesus first sees the man who was demon-possessed, he asked Jesus to leave him alone - to not change anything in his life. He actually saw Jesus as 'interfering' with his lifestyle. Tortured though he was, the evil spirit within him didn't want to leave him. Jesus wasn't put off by the demons asking to stay. "Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” Then the evil spirits begged him...

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:16-17) Have you ever been 'ashamed' of something you have said, done, or believed? I have and it didn't leave me feeling all that good! Why? Shame has a way of 'eating at you'. You feel 'guilty' all the time, and your emotions range from embarrassment to inferiority. Somehow, the enemy of our soul is delighted anytime there is this fear of dishonor, a sense of disgrace, emotions of disappointment, and feelings of extreme condemnation. This is not the way God wants us to live. He wants us to shed our shame as we come to him for when sin has been erased, shame has no place.  There might be times when we feel a bit...

The gist of the entirety of scripture is the concept of taking what we come to know or discover there, and then applying it to our lives so our lives are affected by whatever it is we are discovering. Isn't this the basis of all learning? Application being the basis of all change because without application there really is no advantage to knowledge - it is nice to have, but if not applied, it is 'trivia'.  It is only when knowledge is applied that we can say we are truly developing "wisdom".  As we explore scripture each day, I think God is wanting to tell us something more than, "This is a nice little tidbit of knowledge for you." In fact, he likely is saying something closer to, "Take this, use it, learn to live within it, and be blessed beyond your wildest dreams." Later a few religion scholars and Pharisees got on him. "Teacher, we want to see your credentials. Give us some hard evidence that God is in this. How about a miracle?...