The Plumbline

There are times when I have to 'hurry' and others when I can just linger, doddle, or sit still. Most of the times when I have to 'hurry' it involves me not planning well, so I find myself trying to 'catch up' or 'get something done' so I can move on like I am supposed to. Hurrying is not the best way to live, though. Unfortunately, it is riddled with all manner of 'oops' moments. The best 'plan' for our day may actually be to stop wasting time in the unimportant stuff and direct our attention fully on the important stuff God has for us right now. I thought very carefully about my life, and I decided to follow your rules. Without wasting any time, I hurried back to obey your commands. (Psalm 119:59-60) Without wasting time, I hurried back... This suggests it is possible for us to have been where we should not have been, been attentive to the wrong stuff, or been too laissez-faire about where we were headed to see how far we drifted fro...

And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us. (I John 3:23-24) We must believe - there is no other way into a restored relationship with God the Father than through Jesus Christ, his Son. This truth sometimes gets a little tweaked in religious circles - wanting to add some manner of 'works' to the simple belief God requires of us. No amount of us 'doing' will ever measure up to what Christ has already done. Simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God, died on the cross to make us free from the guilt and shame of our sin, and stop adding to the simplicity of grace. Grace is given, never earned. It is based on a finished work - that of Jesus and not on what we will ever be able to do in 'addition' to what has already been done. L...

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,...