The Plumbline

I am not always excited to endure a trial of any sort - how about you? Do you eagerly await the next trial or temptation? I doubt you do! You are probably thinking about barely surviving with your sanity from the last doozy of a trial you went through, aren't you? Standing the test isn't for the weak hearted - it is for the bold hearted - those with the faith of a mustard seed, willing to put that faith to the test, even when the outcome seems a little foredrawn in your mind. The foredrawn conclusion? It is going to be tougher than you can endure! Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12) The foredrawn conclusion doesn't always take God into account, does it? Sometimes we come to that conclusion all on our own - out of fear, past failures, and a lack of total trust in the one we serve. We give a whole lot of lip service to serving Christ, putting him f...

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while . These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls . (I Peter 1:6-9) One of the hardest things for some of us to come to grips with is that we have to face and endure trials. Yes, the timeframe may be limited, but why on earth do we have to face them at all? Peter was writing to a group of believers who were likely facing great persecution on a daily basis, yet he tells them to rejoice and take hope. How...

Confucius said, "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." I think he may have been describing many of the times when I looked at my own life and commented that I'd just like to settle in with what I had accomplished so far because things were just "stalled" or not moving. This can be especially true when I am moving toward a weight or exercise goal! It seems like I can get a mile walk under my belt pretty easily, but then my body is ready to take it to the next half mile, but the weight doesn't seem to come off despite my "extra effort" at lengthening the exercise. Just going further doesn't mean we haven't "quit" on the inside. The distance we travel, the goal we reach, isn't so much a matter of just putting one foot in front of the other - it has as much to do with how our minds and hearts are seeing the progress and the distance yet to be covered! Any temptation you face will be nothing new. But ...

Father, may they clearly know Your will and achieve the height and depth of spiritual wisdom and understanding. May their lives be a credit to You, Lord; and what’s more, may they continue to delight You by doing every good work and growing in the true knowledge that comes from being close to You. Strengthen them with Your infinite power, according to Your glorious might, so that they will have everything they need to hold on and endure hardship patiently and joyfully. (Colossians 1:9-11 VOICE) Although the passage we are looking at today was written as a prayer for the church at Colossae, it has some meaning for us as fellow believers in the grace and forgiveness of God. Most of us will quickly admit one of the most frequent struggles we face is this assurance we are acting in the will of God - knowing what to do, when to do it, and how it should be accomplished.  As we get more experienced with doing things in life, we often discover there is more than one way to actually d...

Are you a beginner, middler, or finisher?  You might think this question a little odd, but if you'd take a moment or two to actually answer it before you read the rest of this blog, I'd bet you might just come to come conclusions about yourself.  You see, there are those who begin a whole lot of stuff, but soon fizzle out in their pursuit of whatever it was simply because they lose interest.  Then there are those who get way into it and figure out it was going to be harder than they imagined, so they just abandon it right in the middle.  There are probably less in the last group of finishers because to actually get to the end of something, you sometimes have to push past the stuff which doesn't capture your interest with an awe-inspiring "hook" or keep you plugging along when the task gets hard.  Beginners make a lot of up-front investment, but seldom see any benefit from it.  Middlers might get a little out of their investment, but it isn't as much as it ...