The Plumbline

Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. (Deuteronomy 13:4) Moses is sharing the commandments God had given him to give to the people - instructions that came to be known in religious circles as the Law of Moses. As he instructs them about those who would attempt to lure them away from a deep, meaningful relationship with God, he points out three basic groups: the false prophets, those within your circle of influence (better known as the family), and those who lived in neighboring communities. Do you know what he said to do when they were encountered by those 'influences' attempting to pull them away? The Israelites were told to kill them. In other words, they were to rid themselves of all those influences and sere only the Lord their God. How do we live in a world with so many 'influences' pulling us away from an intimate relationship with God and remain strong within that relationship? For one thing, we

Give us help for the hard task; human help is worthless. In God we’ll do our very best; he’ll flatten the opposition for good. (Psalm 60:11-12) Winston Churchill reminded us, "Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it." No matter how we live, or where we live, or who we live with - opposition is all around us. The blood might move freely toward your toes, but it faces gravity as an opposing force in order to return to your heart. Your arteries have no valves - allowing free flow outward. They have valves on the 'return visit' through the veins because gravity would pull it all back down again if there weren't some 'chambers' to catch it and move it along with each heartbeat. If God made our bodies with the ability to 'face opposing forces', what makes us think he would make our spirits any differently? We 'rise' because of opposition - we don't rise going in the same direction as the opposition. We might not think about it, but