The Plumbline

And then he prayed, “God, I’m asking for two things before I die; don’t refuse me—banish lies from my lips and liars from my presence. Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little. If I’m too full, I might get independent, saying, ‘God? Who needs him?’ If I’m poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9)  Neither too much, nor too little - are we operating by the "Goldilocks Principle"? We don't want too hard of a bed, nor too soft - it has to be just right. We don't want too much food, nor too small of portions to satisfy - we want them to be just right. We don't want too much hardship, but neither do we expect to live totally without any - it just cannot be too overwhelming to deal with. Most of us want to live by the standards that "suit" us the best. The only problem with this is our inability to really decide on what "suits" us best. We have a "warped" idea of what is "best...

If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? (Romans 8:38) Is there anything ELSE he wouldn't GLADLY and FREELY do for us? Sometimes I think we expect God is somehow 'finished' with us at some point, but let me be the first one to admit he is far from finished with me! God didn't stop redeeming me at the moment I said 'yes' to Jesus - in fact, he is still in the process of changing a hard heart and sinful nature into one that will respond with obedience. My 'redemption' - a really big word for having my sins forgiven and my life transformed by the power of Jesus' grace - only began the work of 'creating me anew'. Yes, we are totally 'redeemed' at the point we say 'yes' to Jesus, but there is a lifetime of work being done within us to help us reject the desires of our...

If you live in the area where Cox Television is your cable provider, you are inundated with commercials with a guy constantly adding "tay" to the end of each word.  He calls it "portabili-tay" when we can see his football game on his iPad while shopping with the wife.  He calls it the ultimate in "connectivi-tay" when he can move from room to room while checking emails, phone messages and the like all from his laptop.  The emphasis is on the "tay" - you have to really emphasize that last syllable to get the gist of how he says it. When he asks his friend for his hose because he is so absorbed in his "portabili-tay" and "connectivi-tay" that he forgets he has dinner cooking on the grill which is now in flames, his friend kindly shares by spraying the guy with the hose!  To this, the man responds, "Immaturi-tay, Randy!  Immaturi-tay!"  I wonder how many of us walk around just embracing all we can get our hands on and t...