The Plumbline

At moments when all seems to be going well, we don't value our strength. When things don't go as well as they should, we suddenly feel very weak, unable to handle the pressure, and even unwilling to go on. The pressure moments frequently reveal 'whose' strength we are reliant upon, don't they? If it is our own, we 'feel' the pressure in ways that can actually bring harm to our bodies, and even more so, to our spirit. As scripture says, "If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small." (Proverbs 24:10) It isn't our strength that we should be reliant upon, although this seems to be a very hard lesson to learn! If you fail under pressure - it isn't if 'God fails you under pressure', but if YOU fail under it. I have come across people who got themselves so deep into stuff they are weighed down under, hearing them complain that God 'hasn't come through'. Could it be that God didn't want them to get into the mes...

If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. (Galatians 6:1) I think this should probably read 'when', not 'if', because all of us will eventually find ourselves needing forgiveness and restoration, no matter how hard we try to live according to the principles of grace, goodness, and kindness. We all slip up in weak moments, saying or doing something we later regret. When that happens, do we judge one another, holding onto those judgments and allowing bitterness to form deep within our heart? Do we lovingly restore one another, without judging the actions of the other, not giving place to bitterness and anger? Easier said than done, huh? We might want to remember that what we criticize the most in ot...

Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out. (Edwin Markham) Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you. If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath. Disciples so often get into trouble; still, God is there every time. (Psalm 34:17-19) Markham also challenged us with the words: "We have committed the Golden Rule to memory, let us now commit it to life." There are far more times when we 'know the rule' but choose to live contrary to the rule. Those are the moments when God stands at the ready to rescue us from the folly of our own devices. Anyone who has ever been 'rescued' in this life can share just how much their need pressed upon them and how great it was to see that rescuer arriving just in the nick of time. We may not fully appreciate how much we need rescuing today, kind of poking along in life, thinking we are doing 'pretty g...

Thomas Jefferson lived by one principle: "Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching." While it isn't a direct quote from the Bible, the principle sure is! All the world watches to see how the children of God will respond in times of need, crisis, and even peaceful repose. Why? They want to know if you will handle life differently because Jesus dwells within you. Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge. (Proverbs 18:15) Robert Half reminds us, "When one teaches, two learn." For me to teach anything, share any of the truths God has revealed to me, I have to learn them first. Do I learn them all fully before I share them? No, but when truth becomes alive to me, you bet I am going to share it! Be ready to learn, no matter the day or the hour. This is how I operate - when God speaks, I want to be ready to listen. How about you? Do some of God's teachings come at a time when I am busy with other stuff? Y...

All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has! Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. (Psalm 111:7-10) All he does is just and good - he is to be trusted. All his commandments are 'trustworthy' - his justice and goodness makes a solid basis for all truth contained within them. Our part - obedience. Somehow, I think we got the hard part! Faithful obedience - actions taken with utmost integrity - we just don't hit the mark on that one all of the time. Sometimes we just want to take an action because it makes us feel good, while at other times we want to take it because something made us feel bad! We may not always feel like the most 'obedient' creatures on this planet, ...

Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out.  (Robert Collier) God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-11) Many of us go through the same routine day after day, without thought as to why or how we do whatever it is we do within those routines. Do you honestly think through the steps of brushing your teeth, combing your hair, or even putting on your clothing? Do you just head to the coffee pot not really thinking through the 'desire' for that first cup? If you are heading to work today, do you actually think about each twist and turn in the road, or do you kind of drive out of '...

From time to time I like to share a quote I come across that speaks to me. Today, I will share one that we all need to learn well: "The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because it isn't here." (Finley Peter Dunne) It was Henry Ford who reminded us that failure was just an opportunity to begin again, wasn't it? The past looks so good because we are probably busy finding ways to fail anew right now! As long as we are still on this earth, we are going to know times of failure - of unpleasant endings to what we hoped would end a little better. We didn't count the cost well - we didn't consider the outcome before we took the leap. The past looks good only to those who don't remember the pain of the failure! Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. ...

" Your attitude towards failure determines your altitude after failure ." (John C. Maxwell) How many times a day do you fail at something? You meant to keep your mouth shut about something that should have never been spoken, but alas...those words escaped. You meant to take care of that piece of pending work, but it seemed the hours slipped right on by before you could turn your attention to it. You planned to spend "quality time" with the family, but you were saying your good nights long before you realized. You thought you'd start that exercise program today, but the hotter than expected weather made a good excuse to delay until tomorrow. We have innumerable opportunities to succeed, but probably many of these opportunities pass us by, getting categorized in the "failure" pile of our life's choices. What we do with the failures makes all the difference with how we will deal with the new opportunities that come our way. The Lord is kind and mercif...

Have you ever heard the little acronym for fail: F irst A ttempt I n L earning?  Bill Gates is credited for addressing failure this way:  " It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure ." We might think he was merely speaking about success when we first examine this quote, but he really is saying how success is realized - by a few or more attempts at learning what success will actually look like! If success if based upon the lessons we learn from our failures, does that change how we might just come to view our failures in the future? The one who hates good counsel will reap failure and ruin, but the one who reveres God’s instruction will be rewarded. (Proverbs 13:13 VOICE) Thomas Edison was asked about his inventions and all the things scattered around his workshop which didn't work.  In addressing that issue, he simply stated he had not really failed with all those inventions, but rather found a whole lot of ways ...

I run into people in all walks of life, "trying" to serve Jesus, but struggling with obedience, all the while knowing I am not unlike these fellow believers in my "trying".  "Try" as we might, we don't always get things right the first time.  This is kind of the way most of us learn things - by trying, failing, and trying again.  If I had given up on learning to tie my shoes as a child, long before the days of velcro fasteners, I'd have had to go barefoot!  If I had given up on mastering the clutch, brake, and gas combination, I'd never have learned to drive a stick-shift.  We define "success" in terms of something we call "failure" - hit the nail on the head each time you swing the hammer and we call it success; hit your thumb a few times and we call it failure.  I challenge us to think of failure as another form of "success" - simply because we often make the determination we will not choose to place our finger ...

It goes without saying that we will all "slip up" now and again - regardless of how committed we are to following the scriptures.  We are human, will always have a human nature while here on this earth, and we do human things based on what this nature wants.  We feel guilty almost immediately when we do them, but we didn't stop short of actually acting upon those urges whatever they were.  When we do "slip up", we want the encouragement of someone to come alongside us to help us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get moving again.  We don't want another person to judge us for our misdeeds - we all know too well how many people there are out there who do this without even being asked!  Learning to be the kind of individual who "helps make that person right again" is indeed something we all need to learn. Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit should go to the one who is sin...

Ever been accused of being stupid?  I usually tried to have my children avoid the use of this term because of the negative connotation it carries and the way it makes a person feel when they are described as stupid.  In the most literal sense of the word, it indicates someone lacks the intelligence to do something. In terms of this new math they are teaching my grandchildren in school, I would have to say I am a little "stupid" when it comes to understanding it!  I thought I learned "new math" when I came through school and I have done pretty well keeping my checkbook in order, bills paid on time, and have even managed to know what a 25% savings on an item on sale will cost me!  So how come we need "newer math" than the old "new math"?  I don't see the sense in it, and it is a constant "Google search" item for me whenever my daughter calls and asks me to explain it over the phone to my grandson!  I have to read the instructions, th...

So many times we want to assume that there is no way we can be "put right" in life because we can only see the "wrong" we have done.  We see how frequently we fall and struggle to get up - God sees how many times he has the opportunity to help us to our feet again.  God doesn't see the wrong as much as he sees how he has already put things right for us in the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus.  Isn't it about time we change our perspective of the "wrong" we think is unforgivable in our lives and begin to see what God sees when he looks at us - lives "put right" with him? God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.  (2 Corinthians 5:21 MSG)   We evaluate people by what they have and how they look - God sees them by a totally different standard.  He sees them not as wealthy, or well-dressed, but as "needy" individuals - needy of a Savior - needy of being "put right". This ...

Scripture teaches wisdom is something we acquire over time - it says "become wise" - it doesn't say "zap, now you are wise"!  Most of the wisdom we have acquired is done so in what some refer to as the "school of hard knocks".  You know exactly where you learned some of the lessons you have learned, while there are times when you really could not say it was one place or time when the learning happened - it came in the "course of time".  The point is, we don't stop "becoming wise" at any one point in life.  The process of acquiring wisdom is to be a continual thing.  Therefore, every opportunity presented is an opportunity to incorporate some knew knowledge or application of truth. We just need to use what we "amass" and let it affect how we make decisions in the future.  This seems to be the point of our struggle - in using what we already know to help us avoid mistakes and to amass more wisdom in the process! Become...

I caught a post from a friend the other night which grabbed my attention and with which I identified with a little more than I would like to admit at times.  Her frustration came through in the post - not because she was ranting at something others had posted, but because she found herself having reached a point of "failure" in her life.  What came through loud and clear in the post was the fact she has been this route before!  There was something so honest in her post - the ability to admit she was at the end of her rope - traveling an all too familiar path right into the compromise she knew would lead to this exact place of disappointment.  Wow!  Been there, done that, bought the shirt, and wore it out!  Somehow, I felt directed to this passage this morning as I awoke with this friend on my mind and others who also might be at the place of having fallen just one more time.  I hope you will take heart as you read this with me. But I need something...

Ever fail a test?  You know, you think you have "studied" hard enough to make your brain actually leak forth the right stuff in just the right moment - then almost without recognizing the turning point, you "slip" in what you "leaked" and down you go!  Yep, been there, done that, bought the shirt, and wore it out!  The truth is, we all fail - sometimes more miserably than others, but we fail nonetheless.  It may be in some commitment we have made such as determining to eat right, or some "trigger" we just didn't want to respond to in quite the same way the next time we were faced with it.  This week was one of those weeks for me.  The "trigger" came and there came my response - not the grace-filled one I would have like to respond with, but the adrenaline kicked into full gear and there I was facing the same old stuff.  The truth be told - I didn't go as far in my negative response to the trigger - for I held back the words I wo...

Three words are used in this morning's passage to describe our approach to God - fearless, confident, and bold.  These three words could all be interchangeably  could they not?  If we are confident, we are likely fearless and a little bold.  If we are fearless, it is probably because we have confidence which results in boldness.  Why are all three words used to describe our approach to God?  What was it the writer had in mind by emphasizing these three characteristics of approaching God - the AND emphasizes they do not stand alone, but ALL make up our approach.  It doesn't say, "If you are bold, approach God" or "If you possess the confidence, come before his throne".  All three play an important part in our coming before God.  Let's see why. Let us then fearlessly  and  confidently  and  boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our f...