The Plumbline

Temporary residents - this doesn't exactly indicate we will be staying very long, does it? I use a timeshare from time to time, getting away from the busy city life and getting a little closer to nature. I pack up all I will need for the week and then off we go. We settle into the place as though it were our own, but we know we are there for just the one week. We are 'temporary residents' in a very comfortable place, but it never really becomes our own. The furnishings are not as comfortable as those we have at home. The kitchen has most of the necessities, but we might not have all the things we would like to nosh on because we brought very specific things. It is 'home away from home' for us, but it isn't quite our long-term dwelling. I wonder if we treat this earth a little bit too much like our long-term dwelling, forgetting that we are just 'temporary residents' in this world - our long-term residency is with Christ! And remember that the heavenly Fa...

It isn't where we worship - it is who we worship. It isn't about a place - it is about the heart. This Samaritan woman came to draw water from a well, but I doubt she expected this encounter with Jesus. She knew the prophets had predicted the Messiah to come, but did she know she'd encounter him at the side of the well? She just went there daily to draw the water and return to her duties back in the village. Today, she would not only be challenged by someone who knew her past, but she was being challenged to have her future changed for the better. That is how it is when we encounter Jesus - our past might have been a challenge for us, but our future doesn't have to be! “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer ma...

The disciples were not a whole lot different than you and I - simple folk, living day-to-day, making a living with the labor of their hands and the skills of the mind.  They asked questions when things didn't make sense and ventured to solve issues which they had no real business getting involved in.  Their needs were similar, ranging from daily bread to new sandals.  They didn't always recognize when greatness was in their midst, and seldom realized scripture was being fulfilled right before their eyes.  When Jesus wanted to get a point across to them, he often had to call attention to what he was saying - simply because they were distracted, only listening half-heartedly, or because they didn't recognize the significance of what he was saying directly to them.  In these ways we are also like the disciples - needing Jesus to tell us plainly when it is REALLY important for us to hear something! Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the grou...