The Plumbline

I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! (Philippians 3:9-11 NLT) How many times do we count on our own efforts to make us feel 'better' about ourselves? If you preen in front of the mirror each morning, are you doing it to please God, yourselves, or others? While I am grateful that I have a hairbrush, toothbrush, and soap, I don't spend a whole lot of time focusing on physical appearance. I choose not to wear makeup, but there is nothing wrong with it. I choose not to curl my hair or straighten it with a flat iron, though those styles are quite nice on others. I do choose to sit each morning with my Bible, read a bit, spend s...

Do you ever feel like your life is just not working out the right way? Some of us are merely burned out on life. We have been doing everything right, but everything still seems to go wrong. Life just isn't working. We can do all the right stuff, all the while seeing all kinds of hypocrisy around us, leaving us to wonder if this life we are living is filled with all the right stuff. There might not be a whole lot of 'drama' in our lives, but there are times when we don't feel happy or fulfilled. If we are dependent upon the feeling of happiness to evaluate the 'rightness' of our lives, we will likely all feel a little disappointed at times. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to liv...

We all want blessings in this life, don't we?  After all, we work hard, do our best to raise our families in the right way, are loyal and devoted friends - so why is it wrong to think there might be a little blessing waiting for us? I think we all think blessings are equated with our "doing" rather than our "being".  I like what our pastor says, "Humans are beings, not doings".  Chew on that one a bit and you will see the wisdom in those words.  We get so focused on the "doing" of life, we forget the original intent is for us to "be".  "Beings" are content in "being" what God has created them to "be".  It gives a sense of great satisfaction and ultimate blessing to those who learn to walk not in the "doing" of life, but in the "being" of life.  Doing follows being - when our "being" is connected to Christ as it should be, our "doing" will follow in obedient and r...