The Plumbline

Scripture outlines six things God hates, and if six were not enough, God adds just one more (kind of like the cherry on top) that God has some pretty serious feelings about (in fact, we might call it a total loathing for that thing). Hate carries the idea of a very intense, passionate dislike of something. Loathing carries a sense of disgust and gives one the idea that God is repulsed by the type of action he is observing - actions not 'befitting' a person who calls himself a child of God. In total, seven things God asks us to take notice of in our lives and then seek his help to break free of them so we can live in a manner that shows we are engaged with him on this journey of 'right-living'. Our eyes get us into so much trouble - almost as much as our mouth - so it should come as no surprise that the 'top two' things God hates have to do with these two! Here are six things God hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion: eyes that are arrogant, a tongue...

I used to watch those old swash-buckler movies where they would sword fight. The musketeers would banish all the bad scoundrels from the land and people would celebrate from being under some oppressor. There are lots of oppressive forces just seeking to keep us under their rule or domain. We are warned to be on guard against those forces. To be on guard signifies the alertness of spirit and mind that immediately recognizes anything that is not truth and rejects it as such. We are surrounded on all sides by that which is untrue - there may be elements of truth, but at the core, that which presents itself as light may not always be light! Satan is a real enemy - but he is limited in his power over the child of God. He may be the tempter, the deceiver, and the accuser of man, but his power is limited by the fact that each child of God is protected by God himself. We know that none of the God-begotten makes a practice of sin—fatal sin. The God-begotten are also the God-protected. The Evil ...

Lots of time is spent pouring out our heart and then hearing from God as to what has been transpiring around us that seems to give us concern, fear, or a lack of peace. It is impossible to live without faith, as scripture plainly reminds us that the just shall live by faith. Faith must be growing, continually developing. There are times when all we want is for God to do what he had done at times past in our lives - in other words, be awesome in every way, delivering us from whatever is just about to come in around us, and keep us from any type of mind or heart captivity. It might have been a while since we really experienced God in the 'earth-shattering' way we did in previous times - almost failing to sense his presence and longing for things to 'be good again' where is applies to our 'closeness' with God. We could even say we have allowed our 'souls' to get a little bit on the 'empty' side - we just seem to lack what we need. "Look at th...

My BFF and I often talk about what we see or hear on social media and the TV nightly news. The days are pretty much past now where we'd be shocked by some of the stuff we see posted and hear talked about in these newscasts - even by those whose positions should dictate they have a little more decorum and tact in what they say. It is this lack of tact and constant pushing back that can actually incite arguments and disagreements of all sorts - even to the point of war. James 4:1 reminds us that wars and quarrels don't "just happen" - they are not forces of nature. They exist because WE exist - humans bring about quarrels and start wars. Humans contend to overcome some 'foe' - whether it is another human being we are contending to overcome, or some habit or interest. We often stand in opposition to that which we don't understand. So it is with our spiritual walk, as well. When we don't understand a commandment, it is easy to dismiss it as too hard to gra...

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.   (Henry David Thoreau) My pastor did a wonderful job this past week describing the power of that "first step", so to speak. In his teaching, he described the pathway from desire to addiction. Desire is a good thing - it drives us to move, take on new things, and even to experience deep, meaningful relationship with others. Desire gone awry is not such a good thing - for the path first walked, when repeatedly walked will become a rut we find ourselves too easily drawn into as desire seeks to be fulfilled. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and wo...

3  By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.   4  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT) Sometimes I think we believe we somehow get to the point we are living exactly as we should - that our obedience is all our own doing and it is kind of "perfect". I'd like to think I had everything to do with my obedience and that it is completely perfect all of the time, but it is a constant struggle for me.  I am pretty sure more of my obedience is based upon a little "want to" on my part and a huge "power-infusion" on the part of Jesus! How about you? Is your obedience a struggle at times? Is it somet...

" Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. "  (C. S. Lewis)  I have frequently commented about each of us having an "aim" or "purpose" in this life - without one we are kind of set adrift without any real destination in mind. As Lewis said, when our aim is correct, we realize blessings beyond our imagining - when it is limited by what we can see in the natural sense, we might just not ever be able to enjoy all the things God wants us to experience. If I were to ask you what God wants you to experience today, what might you answer? If you could not really answer that, or you gave some "cookbook" kind of answer, you might just want to take a few moments to reconsider your aim - maybe it isn't high enough! We all know that when there’s a race, all the runners bolt for the finish line, but only one will take the prize. When you run, run for the prize! Athletes in training are very strict with themselves,...

Take great joy in the Eternal! His gifts are coming, and they are all your heart desires!  ( Psalm 37:4   VOICE ) I took a class once designed to help me do a better job of "relating" to others - something most of us think we have down pretty well, but likely could use an occasional refresher course on from time to time. In that class, one of the exercises was to write a list of what we believed to be the desires of our heart. In other words, the teacher was asking us to get "specific" about things we might say "off-handed" in conversation like, "I would like to find a soul-mate", or "I sure would like a bigger house". Both comments are "solid" in that they specify we want someone to be that "other part" of our life we call a soul-mate, or that we are desirous of more room to spread out, but neither of these is very specific. I don't think God wants us coming to him with a list a mile long, outlining exactly h...

Napoleon Hill once said, "The starting point of all achievement is desire." He didn't imply it was merely the desire that got us to the point of achievement, but that desire (passion) fuels us, moves us forward, gets us off the starting block, so to speak. desire is a powerful tool, but must be used carefully for it can either move us ahead in purposeful and ordered movement, or it can launch us into the unknown with little to no control over our trajectory! I would like to believe every Christian is certain of their desire, but I must be honest here - even my own desire gets a little out of whack on occasion! It needs constant filtering, frequent readjusting, and an enormous amount of work on the part of the Holy Spirit in my life because left to my own devices, those desires will be less than "desirable"! Whoever pulls away from others to focus solely on his own desires disregards any sense of sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1 VOICE)   For all my wanting, I ...

Your decrees inspire wonder; because of that, my soul desires to keep them.  When Your words are unveiled, light shines forth; they bring understanding to the simple.  My desire for Your commands left me waiting, open-mouthed and panting.  (Psalm 119:129-131 VOICE) Left waiting, open-mouthed and panting.  That certainly conjures up an image in our minds, does it not?  Do God's decrees (his words) inspire wonder in our minds, hearts, and spirits? Or have they become routine (mundane) and a little "dry"?  It is quite common to find the things we are most familiar with becoming "mundane" or "ordinary" in our minds and hearts.  I think a good, totally sappy movie on a Saturday afternoon is a real treat because it helps me to unwind and just get some much needed distraction or rest from the normal routine of the week.  When this Saturday afternoon "flick" turns into a binge-watching fest on Netflix, I begin to find I no lon...

How many desires do you have which you kind of wish you could squelch pretty quickly so you didn't have to deal with them?  If you are like the average person, probably a few a day or more!  It might be the desire to reach out and slap that person who is acting pretty stupid right about now, or the desire to indulge your sweet tooth with the biggest and gooiest of treats in the dessert counter.  Some of the desires are because of something totally internal while others are kind of dependent upon another person or someone else's actions, right?  It doesn't really matter where that desire "comes from" as long as we learn to sort out the ones which are correct to act upon and turn away from the ones which aren't. People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life ...

The beginning of "doing" something may actually begin in the "wanting" of something bad enough we start to make a movement or two toward whatever it is we want.  In everyday life, we "want" certain things and then we set about "doing" things to get or accomplish whatever it is we want.  Recently, I have been working in the backyard to add some raised beds.  It began about a year ago when I shared my vision with my son and he set about to make the first "addition" to the yard in the form of three nice tiered raised beds and a small deck in between.  This gave me the start for what became the next extension of the deck and a cover to shade me while I barbecue under it.  Now, I am collecting old pallets (with the help of my sons).  I am busting those apart and seeing what I can create from them.  The latest addition to the yard is about a 10 foot long diamond-shaped raised bed about one foot high.  It was totally reclaimed wood (with the ...

Know anyone who just has a hard time making decisions?  I do!  I must confess there are times, especially when I need to plunk down a great deal of money on something, when I just take forever to make a decision.  I almost "labor" over the decision because I don't want to make a mistake when it comes to spending that sum of money.  Recently, I purchased a new washer and dryer.  Do you know it took me nearly six months to settle on the ones I was to buy?  Yep, six months.  Oh, my other ones were limping along, so I still had clean clothes, but in the interest of efficiency, timeliness of drying, and the like, they were at the end of their lifespan.  The space constraints where they had to fit were one of the biggest factors, but when I found a couple which would work, they were hard to get in a set.  It seemed one place would have a washer the right size, but not the dryer.  The next place would have a dryer, but not a washer.  Do y...

If you have ever been "in love", you might just understand the longing for the "presence" of the one you love so dearly.  When separation occurs - whether by choice or because of something out of your control - the longing builds. Today, with so many men and women deployed into our battlefields, families are experiencing the tremendous loss of the presence of their loved ones. There is this anticipation of return which stirs the heart and keeps the embers of love alive within, but because of the uncertainty of their safety, there is also the fear that their loved one may not return at all.  What many describe as "stirrings" for the presence of their loved one is really similar to how God feels about each of us - longing to just hold us close, gently stroking our backs with the tenderness of his hand, and then encompassing us with the warmth and protection of his full presence.  How long has it been since you have experienced the "stirrings" in y...

This recovery from knee surgery has involved a little more daytime TV than I am used to, but I came across a show on cable yesterday which made me stop to take in a few back-to-back shows.  It is called "I Want That" and is a show featuring all these handy devices, kits, etc., which will make decorating, gardening, woodworking, crafting, etc., a little easier and less messy.  What amazing stuff there is out there if you want to do gardening indoors with only a hydrophonics kit, or perhaps use your reciprocating saw without having to vacuum up all the sawdust everywhere when you were done.  Something which became quite apparent to me after about one hour of the series is the fact most of us viewing the show had no idea we actually "needed" or "wanted" this stuff until we saw it!  Hence the name:  "I Want That"!  It is just like us humans to be content with what has worked for so long until we see the next amazing device and then our appetite is w...

Yearning: to have an interest or strong desire; longing; to be moved or attracted toward.  We have all kinds of "longings" don't we?  When the day just seem to drag on and on at work, we "long" to be home or out pursuing some other activity.  When the laundry is piled high and the sun is shining, we long to be outside enjoying the weather, not scrubbing away yesterday's stains.  When the traffic jam keeps us inching along, we long for another passenger in our car so we can take the high-occupancy lane!  All kinds of "yearnings", huh?  It is the process of "yearning" which actually gets us to take steps forward most of the time.  We just aren't satisfied with the way things are, so we move toward what or where we think things will be different.  For example, we sign up for the carpool club at work so we don't have to wait in the rush hour traffic, or we do a load of laundry here and there so the weekends are free of "househol...

6 "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat." (Matthew 5:6) There are various types of hunger and desire.  We have "appetites" for different things at different times in our day.  We don't necessarily want a bag of M&Ms for breakfast, but by our two-o'clock slump we might fancy them.  There are times we eat just because the clock says it is time to eat, or the opportunity is before us.  There are other times when we work so intently, caught up in the task at hand, only breaking to find nourishment when we finally realize an intense sense of hunger and fatigue in our bodies. APPETITE:  An inherent craving.  A preference.  A taste for something.  That which we strive after. HUNGER:  A craving, or urgent need, for that which satisfies.  A longing. THIRST:  An ardent desire.  To crave urgently. CRAVING:  Something that you earnestly desire. ...