The Plumbline

Surrounding yourself with the right people brings you much success in life. When we choose our "circle" well, we find ourselves being influenced to move in directions which increase our "value" in some way. Choose the wrong "circle" and we might not realize quite the same increase in "value". There is but one place we find our unique value and that is when we look fully into the face of Jesus. Yet, our relations here on earth can either build us up, or tear us down. Those which build us up have a way of adding "value" by our association; those which tear us down actually take away "value" by that association. The latter erode away at our confidence, play upon our insecurities, and reinforce our fears. It is much better to surround ourselves with those who don't resist correction in their own lives - showing by example what it is like to embrace even the hard lessons so that steps can be reordered to ensure a right path is ...

The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends will be an outsider at their celebrations. (Proverbs 14:10) Walter Winchell reminds us: "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." Do you have this kind of a friendship with anyone? If you do, count yourself blessed; if you don't, it is high time you ask God to bless you with one! A true friend will never shun your bitter moments - they will love you through them. Yes, I said "through them" because that friend will not abandon you to your folly or your grief. "True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing." (Baltasar Gracian) Multiplied blessings don't come because we 'do life' alone - they come because we do life in communion with one another. God never asked or expected his k...

Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God’s Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. Now...Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought... (Philippians 2:1-5 CEV) I don't deal with ambiguity very well, because I think life should have clear direction. Ambiguity is the uncertainty of meaning or intention - the purpose is simply unclear. Where there is lack of clarity, I seek it out. This is my nature - I "uncover" what is not said, or what doesn't immediately reveal itself - the implied or intended meaning. Much of my difficulty with ambiguity comes in not knowing the intent of something. When we are dealing with ambiguity for a long period of time, we often need some encouragement and c...

Life Hack #2: Embrace these life hacks, and it may be safe to say our foundation will be one of trust - not in ourselves, but in God himself. They help to hold us accountable for our actions and attitudes. The company we keep, as well as the company we don't keep, makes a huge difference in the choices we make in life. "Life Hack #1" dealt with our attitude toward the 'poor and needy' - how we interact within the "boundaries" of Christian love or not. "Life Hack #2" focuses on those we associate with the most. Why is this important? Wrong relationships are as dangerous as wind is to fire. Pick the wrong ones to engage with and you will find your world set on fire, but not a fire you can control! Don’t hang out with angry people; don’t keep company with hotheads. Bad temper is contagious—don’t get infected. (Proverbs 22:24-25) Angry people make life miserable for others, don't they? Anger is an emotion with overwhelming potential to destroy...

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people . You’ve got to love both. (I John 4:20-21) It can be hard work to really get into any relationship - from our relationship with Christ to the one with our cubicle mate at work. If you haven't figured it out yet, Christianity is not something you "live out" alone - you actually do much better in your growth when it is shared in relationship with another. We "sharpen" each other by the various things we each lend to the relationship. It is the "differences" we each possess that actually make each relationship so important - for it is in the "differences" where we learn to "walk out" our Christian faith. Immaturity demands everybody be just like who we are - matur...

So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed. Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don’t squander your precious life . Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day’s work. When you find me, you find life, real life, to say nothing of God’s good pleasure. But if you wrong me, you damage your very soul; when you reject me, you’re flirting with death. (Proverbs 8:32-36) We began to look at this passage yesterday and I would like to focus on the idea of becoming 'nurturing' individuals today. Nurturing carries the idea of protection. We protect what we value most, don't we? I have insurance on my car, not so much because it is the law, but because it gets me too and from everywhere I need to be. To be without it for any length of time, or to lose it completely, would place me in a position of having to walk long distances in the Arizona heat - ...

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-2) I revisit this passage frequently because it speaks deeply to me about the kind of friend I want to be to those God has placed in my life and the kind of friends I want to surround my life with, as well. Being in 'community' is important - but the right community is more important. If you have ever been in a relationship that is a bit of a 'drain' on you emotionally, physically, or spiritually - you know that you sometimes wish you could just escap...

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.  (Arnold H. Glasow) I've heard it said that it takes a very long time to grow a friend. I wonder how much time it takes to grow a best friend? A true friend that sticks with you through thick and thin - the good and the bad. I like the idea of a true friend getting in our way every time we might be going down a path that we would best leave untraveled. Isn't that what friends do for each other - looking out for the best interests of the other? That kind of friend is hard to find. I would like to suggest it is not that we 'find' a friend like this, but rather that this type of a friendship is 'grown' over time.  The right word at the right time is like a custom-made piece of jewelry, and a wise friend’s timely reprimand is like a gold ring slipped on your finger. (Proverbs 25:11-12) The timely reprimand of a friend - we somehow have missed the importance of helping each other remain on the r...

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.   Ralph Waldo Emerson I don't 'get stupid' with my friends like some may think of 'getting stupid' with their friends. I don't know how you interpret what Emerson said, but in my opinion he was trying to say it is okay for us to be our true selves with those we are able to call true friends. Why is that possible? I think it is because trust has been established and we know it won't be betrayed when we 'bumble' a little around a friend. It is a true blessing to have such a friend - it is a greater blessing to be such a friend! Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. (Proverbs 18:24 MSG) Old friends are those we usually refer to as 'true friends' - they have endured the test of time, the challenges of relationship with us, and become our truest companions along some of the toughest journeys. Not all of us have ex...

There is a newer show on reality TV about people being left alone to survive - but they are given survival items such as fire starter, knife, and sleeping bag. They just have to learn how to build a shelter and survive off the land. The main part of the survival experience is that you are alone, must stay alone, and cannot seek out the other 'survivalists' that are a mile or further away from you. The point is that you are being tested on 'standing alone'. Scripture pretty much discourages trying to stand alone, especially in times of trial and struggle. It is as though these folks are welcoming the extreme loneliness that comes when they don't have contact with others. I have seen them adopt pet field mice in order to have something to talk to and take care of beside themselves! We are created as social beings and attempting to remove ourselves from social contact completely is not well tolerated by our minds, hearts, and spirits! By yourself you're unprotected...

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.   (Francesco Guicciardini) Mr. Guicciardini also reminds us, "Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them." These are indeed wise words, for friendship is one of the things once gained acts as both a means to challenge us to move forward, but also gives us the support to take those first steps in the right direction. I am privileged to know good friends, but no matter what you say, there is always going to be one who stands out above the rest. That 'friend' who sticks with you through thick or thin, and even when they cannot be with you, their support is felt because you know you are never far from their thoughts nor out of their prayers for very long! Generous prayers lifted on your behalf, simply spoken from the heart, but with utmost meaning to those who need that support at that moment! So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that yo...

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help. (Epicurus) If you have ever read the Proverbs, you will note there are a lot of passages that deal with the friends we keep, ranging from those that remind us to choose them wisely to realizing their strength in times of trouble. I would like to just spend a moment today contemplating just a few of these: Good people are careful about choosing their friends, but evil people always choose the wrong ones. (12:26 ERV) Choice of friends is key to both the direction and distance a relationship will travel. If we choose the right friends, they will be on course with where need to be heading, AND they will be with us through the entirety of the journey. We need both - the companionship along the way, but the wisdom and determination to help us make the best choices about the direction we take in life. If we choose wisely, the benefits are astronomical! Be friends with those who are wise, and you will be...

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. (Ann Landers) An honest answer is like a kiss of friendship.   (Proverbs 24:26 NLT) As my kids were growing up, we faced all manner of "tragedy" where friends were concerned. One week the "best friend" would not have paid enough attention to the other - the next these "best friends" could be the best of buds. The pendulum swing of friendship almost drove me crazy during their teenage years! The message they heard from me was quite consistent and has not varied down through the years - if they are the type of friend you really want, you will work this out.  Sometimes we get into a place where true friendships are tested - times when a sideways glance or a word spoken in haste can set in play a wide variety of emot...

If you fear other people, you are walking into a  dangerous  trap; but if you trust in the Eternal, you will be safe. ( Proverbs 29:25   VOICE ) I think we all struggle with this one on occasion - fearing what people might think about us, what they may be saying, or even what they might someday do to us. It can keep us tied in knots and totally keep us out of deep, meaningful relationships because we don't want to take the step of trusting another with what we feel they may "misuse" or "find fault" with if we did. It takes a lot to open up to others - it takes even more to hold what we know about the other person sitting across from us as though it were the most precious treasure we might possess. When someone trusts us with even a little piece of their real self, what we do with what we possess makes all the difference in how much more they will share in the future. The fear of others is often based in some misuse of what another "knows" about u...

"A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world ."  (Leo Buscaglia)  Friendship is under-rated. We live in a world riddled with all manner of casual contacts - filling a long list of "friends" on our social media feeds. In general, they are folks we "friended" because they posted cool stuff in their feed, had common friends with those we knew, or we know them casually from work or other places we frequent often. Do they really rise to the level of "friend"? Will they be there when the times are hard, or the things we count on seem to fall out from under us? Will they remind us our faith is in God, not the circumstances ahead of us or the ones we just found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of right now? If they aren't, then they are probably more of an acquaintance and not so much of a friend. A  true   friend  loves regardless of the situation, and a  real  brother exists to share the tough times.  Proverbs 17:17 VOICE The ...

I saw a cute little poster the other day. One person sat with their arm around the other, backs facing outward toward the camera, heads slightly tilted toward the other person's shoulder. The caption was what spoke to me: " I'm not interested in whether you stood with the great. I'm interested in whether you sat with the broken. " I think the idea expressed is simply profound - although it is not "Bible", the concept is straight out of the teachings of  Jesus! PERPETUALLY my focus takes me to the Eternal because He will set me free from the traps laid for me. QUIETLY turn Your eyes to me and be compassionate toward me because I am lonely and persecuted.  (Psalm 24:15-16 VOICE) We don't have to possess all the answers in order to be a help to another.  We simply need to make the time, paying attention to their expressed need, as well as those things they just don't say, but are deeply feeling.  Often loneliness is not ever spoken,...

Hubert Humphrey said, "The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love." There is something "enveloping" about the tender hugs of a companion in the journey, one who will not only come alongside, but will bear you up during times when you just feel you cannot go on any longer. Over the years, I have been observant of those who seem to live "rich lives".  They aren't those who drive the fanciest of cars, dress the snappiest, or even are surrounded by the most "friends" at the party.  In fact, they are often those who have learned to live well as "friends" themselves, drawing those who are loyal, trustworthy, and there for the long-haul into their lives not by their overwhelming charisma, but by their faithful example. There is no greater way to love than to give your life for your friends. You celebrate our friendship if you obey this command. I don’t call you servants any longer; servants don’t know what the master is d...

Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." He also said, "To be yourself in a world constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."  Friendship is one of the greatest blessings anyone can extend into our lives, is it not?  When another comes alongside and lends not only their "best" to your life, but is free enough to add some of the stuff that makes you laugh that deep belly sort of laugh, and just puts a smile on your face, that is a great friendship!  I am so grateful when I can just hang out with my bestie and be "myself" - no pretense, no real need for any kind of hiding - just being exactly who and what I am.  It is probably one of the greatest compliments one can pay another when they just let the other  be exactly who they are! Those who live right are good guides to those who follow, but wrongdoers will steer their fri...

Helen Keller said, "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." I don't think we ever count on walking alone through life, but there are times when we can be in a crowd and still be "alone".  It is truly a hard thing to learn to walk alone - because we lack the stabilizing force the other's hand offers, their balance creates, or their persistence with us getting it right affords in our repeated efforts to walk!   Two are better than one because a good return comes when two work together. If one of them falls, the other can help him up. But who will help the pitiful person who falls down alone? In the same way, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm. But how will the one who sleeps alone stay warm against the night? And if one person is vulnerable to attack, two can drive the attacker away. As the saying goes, “A rope made of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 VOICE) A good...

What story are you writing?  A couple of weeks ago, our church handed out small wristbands which simply read "The Next Chapter".  As we all go through life, we are busy writing the story of our lives - we all leave a legacy - some good, some not as good.  What gets written in the pages of our lives is not always within our control, but most of the time, it is influenced by our response to what comes our way.  I think we can influence what gets written in the pages of the lives of those we are closest to - because we all have the opportunity to help someone up when they have fallen, restore them when they have made wrong choices, and carry their burdens when they are just too hard to carry on their own. My spiritual brothers and sisters, if one of our faithful has fallen into a trap and is snared by sin, don’t stand idle and watch his demise. Gently restore him, being careful not to step into your own snare. Shoulder each other’s burdens, and then you will live ...