The Plumbline

  We can make our own plans,   but the  Lord  gives the right answer. (Proverbs 16:1) Woody Allen once quipped, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." We may think we have things figured out, but do we really? God's ways are often somewhere beyond our plans and schemes. We might be on the right course, but we may not know all that we shall encounter while on that course. We need God's wisdom in order to face the things we never 'planned for' along the way.  At best, our thoughts can be ordered and in line with God's plans. At the worst, they can get us all muddled up and in a situation we don't have the means to get ourselves out of. We might think one thing, but find God takes us in an entirely different direction. John F. Kennedy said, "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction." We need to understand God's purpose and we need to choose his direction. Gather your thought but don't be too q...

Form your purpose by asking for counsel, then carry it out using all the help you can get. (Proverbs 20:18) Most of us don't get up in the morning and set out aimlessly on our day. Even that cup of coffee you are drinking is made with purpose - you wanted it! Purpose can also be described as determination - being directed toward a certain point and then doggedly making every effort to get to that point. Our "purpose" is to be found in Christ - his life within us is to give meaning to our steps and a sense of determination to our actions. Some of us don't feel like we understand our purpose in life - having been shot down a few times when we tried to step out to do something or having believed for way too long that our actions don't matter or make a difference. We can come to Christ with our feelings of being "aimless" and "purposeless" - asking him to bring clarity, give us direction, and to bolster us for the journey ahead. We come to a p...

Cynics look high and low for wisdom—and never find it; the open-minded find it right on their doorstep! (Proverbs 14:6) There are people in this world who believe that selfishness motivates people to do things. There are probably more than a few individuals like this, but once someone invites Christ into their lives, it is almost impossible to live that way any longer. A cynic has to believe every action has some underlying "ulterior motive". As we come INTO Christ, the "motivations" of our life begin to change - moving from being a little too self-centered to being "other-centered". The result of becoming more Christ-centered is that we also become more and more "other-centered". This is a good thing since our ego gets us into more scrapes than we might like to deal with in this life! Wisdom is only truly found when we are able to embrace it and as long as we are embracing everything that focuses on and pleases self, we will not be able to...

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this. (Proverbs 3:5-12) I have been guilty of 'setting out' before considering the 'destination' - how about you? We might do this more often than we think. It may not be us setting out for a physical destination as much as going places in our minds we should not be goin...

Be good to your servant, that I may live and obey your word. Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. I am only a foreigner in the land. Don’t hide your commands from me! (Psalm 119:17-19) Have you ever heard the saying, "You have not because you ask not"? In reality, many of us spend very little time asking God to open his word to us. We go right to it, open it up, then start reading. When nothing seems to 'pop off the pages' at us, we get a little concerned. We ought to! We neglected to ask God to open the truths hidden deep within those words. Sometimes they are quite obvious, but at others, we need help understanding how they apply to our lives right now. When the psalmist (King David) said he was a 'foreigner in the land', he wasn't applying that term to a real strip of land. He was saying he was a foreigner when it came to understanding God's word. There are lots of times we probably feel like 'foreigners' in God...

You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands. As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! I will obey your decrees. (Psalm 119:4-8) To what or whom do your compare your life's actions? God charges us with the responsibility and "goal" of keeping his commands - with consistency and dogged determination. We are actually reminded that the 'comparison' we need to make is with his commands - how well are we measuring up to what he asks of us? How consistent are we in making right choices? How much does 'obedience' out-trump all the other choices we could make? Did you ever stop to consider that your life of obedience is actually an offering of 'thanksgiving' to God? Our passage reminds us that when we live as we should (obedience), we are actually lifting thanks to God with each...

  Take good counsel and accept correction— that’s the way to live wisely and well. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but  God ’s purpose prevails. (Proverbs 19:20-21) Good counsel is to be sought, not because we need someone else to do our thinking for us, but because we sometimes need to get a clarifying perspective on things. God never asks us to allow others to think for us - to make choices for us that we should be making for ourselves. He asks us to use the wisdom he grants through is Word, wise counsel of others who know his Word, and the best 'knowledge' we have at the moment. Sometimes that 'knowledge' is just the tiny nudges we feel in our spirit - but even these 'nudges' need confirmation through what we find in the Word and what we know to be true about our God. Wise counsel is 'taken' - it is crammed down our throats, nor is it 'happened upon'. There is an active participation in finding truth, adopting truth, and then l...

Right now many of us have gone through periods of extended isolation because of COVID-19 and the need to 'stay-at-home' in order to reduce the likelihood of spreading the disease. Hanging out with each other hasn't been all that simple, has it? We miss those interactions and almost crave them a little. Who do you "hang out" with? You probably have a pretty "routine" group of acquaintances who you associate with more than others. Sometimes, we have groups at work or school, others at home and at church. They can overlap a little, but seldom are they all the same. When we have all these groups to associate with it is easy to be one person with one group and quite another with the other, isn't it? There is not a great deal of consistency between the members of the groups, so being a little different with each group usually doesn't present a problem. Until....one day, you find a member of one of your "groups" crossing-over into anothe...

Mom had a saying when she couldn't find something. She'd say she "put it away so carefully, so as to find it the next time," only to find it was nowhere to be found when she needed it! Have you ever been looking so diligently for something only to find that what you sought with such great earnestness was right there in front of you all the time? When you finally realize that the object of your search was just within your reach, didn't you feel a little silly having spent all that time and energy in the seeking? It's kind of like you just have to say, "Duh! Here it is!" and give yourself a little knock on the head! Somehow, though he moves right in front of me, I don't see him; quietly but surely he's active, and I miss it. (Job 9:11) A process in the business world known as "building shared vision" is usually facilitated by bringing a group of people together for a period of time to tap into what it is that they imagine for the succ...

Ever feel like a stranger some place you are not all that familiar with? I know when I travel to another state, the highways and even how the streets are laid out are different from the ones around home, so I feel a little like a duck out of water. When I must drive those roadways, I rely a lot on my co-pilot and navigator - my BFF. She tells me to turn, merge, and where to get off (in a nice way!). We have missed exits, gone out of our way, and even been lost a few times, but we eventually get situated again. She is generous with me - giving me a little grief for missing the turn-off, but then nudging me with a little giggle that tells me it will be okay - she will help me find my way back onto the right course. I am so grateful I have someone in my life to help nudge me back on course when I get a little wayward, but I am most grateful for God's continual direction and oversight in my life. Not for one minute does he take his eyes off my course - and not one minute does he fail t...

Direction, condition, and focus - what do these three have to do with each other? Direction is often thought of as the path one will travel - the way we are headed. When the condition of mind, body, and spirit are well, it is much easier to follow along that course. If the condition of the mind, body, or spirit is out of alignment (not clearly focused), there will be a little drift that occurs in the direction we maintain! Grow a wise heart—you'll do yourself a favor; keep a clear head—you'll find a good life. (Proverbs 19:8) Within these two sentences, two words give us direction, two describe a condition that should be met, and two reveal the focus we must maintain. The two words that give us direction are "grow" and "keep". The two that describe the condition we are to maintain are "wise" and "clear". The two indicating the focus we are to keep are "heart" and "head". Grow - the first thing that comes to mi...

Have you ever been lost? There have been times when I am heading to a particular destination along an interstate or back road somewhere and find I am all 'turned around' in my way-finding. I missed some sign somewhere along the way, or just plain didn't judge the distance correctly. I find myself back-tracking, looking again for the right way to go, or I might just give up on ever finding what I was looking for in the first place because it was just impossible for me to find without help! Much of the time in life we are on some kind of journey. We find ourselves kind of 'lost' sometimes, not because the way wasn't explained to us, or that we hadn't consulted the plan for how we'd get their several times, but because we misread, missed, or just plain didn't acknowledge the signs along the way. You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.    You’re blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to fi...

" If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there ." (Lewis Carol)  I think I just might fit into the category of the one who doesn't always know where she is going!  At times I can be the best of planners, being patient to wait for all the pieces to come together in just the right timing.  At others, I just want to plunge ahead, forgetting that perhaps the timing isn't right, or the planning isn't quite up to par yet.  "Getting there" is quite different from just "getting somewhere".  Too many times we allow ourselves to be duped into thinking movement, regardless of the direction we are headed, is really all that matters.  For everything that happens in life—there is a season, a right time for everything under heaven... (Ecclesiastes 3:1 VOICE) I have said it before, but it bears repeating - God's timing isn't always the easiest to figure out!  It isn't that he doesn't reveal it to us, it is just...

“Be still,  be calm, see,  and understand I am the True God. I am honored among all the nations. I am honored over all the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 VOICE) Stillness isn't always part of our days, is it?  In fact, most of us don't take time to recognize that the trees have grown absolutely still, without any evidence of even the slightest breeze ruffling their leaves. We don't even miss the sweet songs of the tiny birds until someone calls it to our attention. In the stillness of those moments there is usually something "brewing" - hence we get the term the "calm before the storm".  Ranchers, farmers, and those who work in the outdoors have learned to pay close attention to a change in the weather which comes with a very eerie stillness simply because they know it could be building into something they will be having to do significant clean up after if they aren't adequately prepared.  Maybe we'd do well to pay attention to the times God purposefull...

There are times for each of us when we just lose sight of things in our lives - things which are more important than other things.  In these times, what we do to regain focus is what will make all the difference.  Wouldn't it be much easier to just remain focused?  Of course, but it is hard to maintain focus - it requires us to take action when we might not feel like taking action, redirect our attention when we are becoming distracted, and dig into the Word of God when the answers just don't seem to come.   Stay focused; do not lose sight of mercy and truth; engrave them on a pendant, and hang it around your neck; meditate on them so they are written upon your heart. In this way, you will win the favor of God and others, and they will think well of you. (Proverbs 3:3-4 VOICE) The basic thing I believe we need to see in our study today is this idea of being directed - one way or the other, the direction we choose is because either we are directed from some...

If you have ever gone the wrong way, missed the turn-off on the highway, or found yourself turned around in some situation, you know that moment of "how'd I do that" which occurs.  You know what I mean - that moment of sheer panic or rise of stress level within which signals you have just done something you are so sorry you did!  Over recent weeks, there have been various accidents reported on local TV about several "wrong-way drivers" on the freeways around town.  In most cases, lives have been lost because of the "wayward" driving of some motorist heading the wrong direction, often for miles and miles.  What happened to get them on the freeway going in the completely wrong direction, and at what point did they recognize they were maybe headed against traffic? In most cases, there might not have been any warning to the drivers who were so impaired they chose the off-ramp instead of the on-ramp to enter the freeway. It wasn't for the lack of signa...

By definition, a crisis is a "turning point" in a set of circumstances where the future outcome is determined.  As such, the point of crisis in any issue we face is pivotal to where we will end up.  So, understanding how to hold up in the midst of the "turning point" can be the most important part of actually making it through.  Most of us just think of a crisis as something ugly happening to us at the moment and it is a little difficult to endure.  If we begin to see it as a "turning point", we might just handle it differently. If you fall to pieces in a crisis,   there wasn’t much to you in the first place. (Proverbs 24:10 MSG) As we face crises, the things we focus on make all the difference.  For example, if all we see is the insurmountable odds, we will tend to see only the difficulties and not the possibilities.  Even insurmountable odds have possibilities.  We think of crisis as a point of instability in our lives - when things are...

The end of the day has come, labors have all just about ended, and you are envisioning a nice bit of sea bass cooked over the fire with a side of some freshly harvested vegetable from your garden.  Then all of a sudden, you vision is broken in upon by an "outsider" almost putting himself upon you to get you to back at work.  At first, it doesn't seem like much - he only wants to use your boat - not too far from shore - so dinner will be a little delayed, but you can soak up a few rays and enjoy the gentle rocking of the boat as it drifts on the still waters.  So, why not?  After all, he is quite popular and he tells stories people really like to hear.  As you lay there gently lulled by the slight lapping of the waters against the side of your boat, your ease is interrupted by another request - this time a little harder to take than his first. At first, you complain a little - something we all are given to at times.  Then you go about explaining how this re...

Have you ever experienced one of those "empty-head" moments when you just do something and then look back and say to yourself, "Now why'd I do THAT"? I think we probably all have at some point.  We just plunge right in and then in retrospect, we kind of wonder how we ever got as "messed up" as we did. It was probably because we had one of those times when we just didn't stop long enough to consider the consequences of what we were doing - the scripture calls this being "empty-headed".  These empty-headed decisions are really not built on a solid foundation, therefore they will not turn out well. Our conduct may be fun for a while, but eventually empty-headed decisions catch up with us.  Mindful decisions are marked by attentiveness, awareness, and great care.  These types of decisions make for a much better outcome - their foundation is a lot stronger and more enduring. An empty-head thinks mischief is fun,   but a mindful person relish...