The Plumbline

And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; they wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!  (Psalm 84:5-7) Some of us may have God in our rear-view mirror right now. It is like we look up one day and realize that he isn't in front of us any longer - we aren't following him as closely as we were at one time. Sometimes that is a result of us taking our focus off him, while at others it is more of us having drifted into just doing things by rote. We read the Word, but it is because it is habit - we aren't really getting much out of it. We say a few prayers, but it is also out of habit - we aren't really expressing our heart or listening to his. Ever start out on a journey and find yourself there, almost unaware of the twists and turns you took to get there? We all have roads we travel ...

God isn't looking for us to serve him out of duty, but out of enthusiasm. How many times do we find ourselves caught up in 'service', but there is a total lack of enthusiasm behind it? In fact, it is more or less what we'd refer to as 'duty'. Passion is lacking. There is no real heartfelt commitment to the project ahead of us - it is performed by rote or meaningless repetitive action. A hard thing for me to learn is that we don't lose our passion or enthusiasm, we actually leave it. We walk away from our passion - not quickly, mind you, but little by little, subtly drifting away from the very thing that once ignited a great passion within us. Most of us don't need more of God in our lives - we just need to realize where there has been this subtle change in our focus. Call out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Be glad as you serve the Lord. Come before Him with songs of joy. Know that the Lord is God. It is He Who made us, and not we ourselves. We are ...

If you are anything like me, you might have tried to side-step all the 'preparation' required for some exam in life, only to find all that side-stepping really left you wanting when you needed the right answer! You believed you could just do a cursory review of the work and all would be well. Preparation is key to not only exams in school, but for each of life's challenges as they come day by day. We all have differing responses when we face one of life's challenges, don't we? Some of us will rise up, take the bulls by the horns and plunge right in, while others withdraw a safe distance, consider their options and seemingly take forever to respond to the challenge. Sometimes we take every opportunity to avoid the challenge, just hoping it will go away! Regardless of how we face life when we are "challenged", it is important to keep in mind that each challenge carries a purpose. As Jesus remind us, true blessing in our lives comes when heart and mind are in...

Try as we might, there are just times we don't hit the mark spot on. We miss, sometimes by a mile, and other times, just barely - but a miss is a miss, is it not? The moment we set out to do anything at all, we run the risk that we will not get to the end result that we imagined or desired. We fall short, or the desired result is just not what it should have been. This is all part of living on this planet - sometimes you get nuts, other times you don't! Sometimes you do okay in the realm of obedience - other times you just plain screw up! I am so glad to know that no matter how far away from the mark we end up - we are never too far away for God to set us back on target again! No matter how far away you end up, GOD, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back…GOD, your God will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love GOD, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live; really live.  And you will make a new st...

It is important to actually understand what Christianity is and is not. I hear people say things like, "If I went to church as many days a week as some people do, I'd be very religious." This is a very truthful statement as "going to church" can make us quite "religious" while we totally miss out on relationship with Jesus! We are church "attendees", but that doesn't necessarily guarantee we are actually changing into the image of Christ, becoming more genuine in our "living out" of the character of Christ in us. What often happens is that we get more "staunch" in our beliefs, but less tolerant of the "real problems" people have to struggle through as they maneuver through life. Life which is just "religious" isn't going to embrace others when they are pretty messed up in life's issues. In fact, some of the most "religious" people reject people with very real problems, hurting...