The Plumbline

Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25) I am not a 'journal person' - I don't keep a diary of the daily events and happenings in life. In fact, I tried it for a couple of months to see if I could keep track of what I was doing and other stuff like the things that were happening in my ministry. It got to the place I was repeating myself, so I quit. As much as I thought this 'diary' thing was a 'big deal' for believers to 'keep track' of God's blessings, it wasn't all that 'big of a deal'. It was shortly after that failed attempt at keeping a diary that I realized God wanted me to simply spend time with him, writing down the stuff he told me in those times, beginning to really digest the scriptures for myself. When I began to record what God was sharing from his Word and my time pondering it, I found that much less cumberso...

Who do you see when you look in the mirror?  Most of us would say we see a reflection of ourselves.  Looking back at us is the man or woman we have become, complete with all the wrinkles, gray hairs, blemishes, cellulite, and the like.  Rarely does anyone answer, "I see Christ".  Why?  I am not sure we actually see Christ because we only see the "dullness" of this earthen vessel and his brightness is just beneath the surface, struggling to get out!  Paul puts it this way: If you only look at  us , you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually ...

I wonder what evidence Christ has verified in each of our lives - is it really apparent, so all can see?  If not, perhaps we might want to consider how evidence is actually revealed and what purpose evidence fulfills!   4-6 Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There's no end to what has happened in you—it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives. (I Corinthians 1:4-6 The Message) Paul speaks to the Corinthian believers of their free and open access to God - a gift provided through the sacrificial work of Christ.  In looking into their lives, he proclaims there is no limit to what Christ produces when a man or woman fully yields their lives to his control!  In fact, he says it goes beyond what words could describe and what the mind could comprehend!  Now, think on that one! Evidence either proves or dispr...

11-13 Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it." It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help."   14 But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?  (Romans 10:11-14 The Message) You may find the fact that calling out to God ensures a listening ear - each and every time - a little hard to believe, but it is true!  God listens AND he hears!  As a little girl, I learned the story about "crying wolf" too many times.  The idea of "crying wolf" was really a symbol of sounding a fa...

9-11  Word got out among the Jews that he was back in town. The people came to take a look, not only at Jesus but also at Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. So the high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus on account of him. (John 12:9-11) Lazarus became a living testimony of the power and deliverance of God when his life was raised.  He became a "threat" to religion the day he was raised!  The Jewish high priests are actually resisting his testimony because it was causing people to leave the "comfort" of religion to experience the dynamic of relationship.  The fact of the matter is that God uses people to do the work of bearing testimony to his deliverance! We are never a threat to "religion" when we are just living in the status quo.  As soon as we "cross the line" into a real and vital relationship with Jesus, guess what....we become a "threat".  For the sake of...

16-19 "How can I account for this generation? The people have been like spoiled children whining to their parents, 'We wanted to skip rope, and you were always too tired; we wanted to talk, but you were always too busy.' John came fasting and they called him crazy. I came feasting and they called me a lush, a friend of the riffraff. Opinion polls don't count for much, do they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating." (Matthew 11:16-19) John the Baptist is in prison - his disciples are sent to bring him back a report on what Jesus is doing.  In John's mind, he is still wondering if Jesus is the Messiah they were awaiting, or just another prophet, like him.  Jesus proclaims a list of things to the disciples in response to their, "Are you the one we are looking for?"  He outlines "evidence" that will help John make his own determination about the Messiah - lepers healed, blind see, lame walk, deaf hear, dead raised, and if that is not enou...