The Plumbline

Life Hack #15: Don’t for a minute envy careless rebels; soak yourself in the Fear-of-God—t hat’s where your future lies. Then you won’t be left with an armload of nothing. (Proverbs 23:17-18) That ugly, green-eyed monster often known as jealousy or better known as discontent can grab onto us so quickly. Discontent breeds all manner of other issues, so it is best nipped in the bud before it festers and multiplies! Envy enters in anytime we think someone else has any advantage we don't have in life. We might not know how frequently we actually evaluate ourselves in light of what we see another "have" - whether it is knowledge, privilege, or possession. When we sense this "discontent" with what the other person seems to have or get, it can lead to a lot of ugliness in our lives we really don't want to deal with later on! Discontent is really a sense of inequity. If you haven't already figured it out - all things are NOT equal in this life! We are all cr...

Get wisdom—it’s worth more than money; choose insight over income every time. The road of right living bypasses evil; watch your step and save your life. First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall. It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in God. A wise person gets known for insight; gracious words add to one’s reputation. (Proverbs 16:16-18, 20-21) Contrast is the tool by which life responses are often evaluated. Pride enters, destruction is close on its heels. Haughtiness results in a fall; humility results in an increase in one's life. Pride or haughtiness are set out as "wrong" paths for our life. Wisdom and insight are presented as better than all the wealth we could accumulate. Trusting in God and listening to wise instruction outweighs doing things our own way (creating a 'history' we may regret). God commends the wise, because they have come to the place of doing more than appreciating good teaching - the...

I spend a little time on occasion just perusing ideas on Pinterest because I like to see what creative things others come up with to either save money, make something old new again, or reuse something in a totally different way. It gives me ideas and some of them I actually put into use in my home. What 'worked' for someone else begins to find a way to 'work' in my life, as well. It may be that they show me how to create a raised garden bed and I adopt those ideas as I create my own. It has been useful to see ways people hide pesky cables that gather behind our media stations in life. Sometimes I know what I want to create, but there are no plans I can find. That is when I have to make a "prototype" of the object. It is pieced together in the fashion I 'believe' will work, but not every prototype I create actually works very well! Some make it no further than the scrap pile. Others work 'okay', but they aren't really what I desired. It is g...

Compared to ............ I am like ........... This is a pretty open-ended statement, but one we run over and over in our brains, most of the time without even being aware that it is happening! Why do we find it necessary to compare - to put things within our lives on a scale against what another has, does, or is on the opposite side of that scale? I guess we will never learn that God has a purpose for each of us - independent of what another does, is, or has! Comparison is often the very thing that erodes at our faith and brings decay into what we refer to as contentment or fulfillment. We need to guard against this erosion and decay, but how? It makes little difference to me how you or any human court passes judgment on me. I even resist the temptation to compare myself to the ever-changing human standard. (I Corinthians 4:3) If we spend today looking at ourselves in the mirror, what will we see? Will we see exactly what is there - no more, no less? Not likely - because we w...

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. (C.S. Lewis) Did you ever stop to consider where you find your greatest discontent may also reveal to you where it is you will find your greatest contentment? If we are so disillusioned with our present world, I wonder if it is because we are desiring another world more? Is that a bad thing? Only if that 'other world' is one that leads us down a pathway away from God! If it is a pathway that draws us nearer to him, then it is not a bad thing at all! In fact, God's hope is that we will keep our attention clearly fixed on the hope of a future with him, while living effectively in this world by living in the present with him at the helm of our lives. Belief begins in the heart and leads to a life that’s right with God; confession departs from our lips and brings eternal salvation. Because what Isaiah said was true: “The one who...

Did you ever stop to consider why some things are created "hollow"?  Indulge me for a moment, please.  When something is hollow, it could be said to be empty, right?  It has capacity inside which is just not filled up yet?  Something extremely hollow, such as a deep hole in the ground, lacks resonance - we can throw a stone in it, but we may never hear it hit bottom - there is no "return" of sound to confirm the vastness of the hollowness.  Some things are purposefully created hollow - such as a water pitcher, or the kitchen sink.  They have a purpose in the way they were created, right?  Guess what? So do we! Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.  (2 Corinthians 4:5 MSG) ...