The Plumbline

A life is not important except in the impact it has on others. (Jackie Robinson) Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT) The impact of our lives may best be seen in the kindness we show others - in the expression of love we give to others or bring into situations where hurt and harm have been prevalent. Let's be honest here - there are a whole lot of harmful and hurtful things happening around us each and every day. We might be right smack dab in the middle, or we could be observers on the sidelines. Either way, we have the opportunity to bring God's love into that situation by being examples of his tenderhearted kindness and love. Where bitterness abounds, you might just see anger, harsh words, or even hurtful lies being spread. The root of bitterness combined with one's ...

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. (Romans 3:23-24 NLT) We might not want to admit it, but we are sinners through and through. We were born with the sin nature - it is part of who we are. We give into it almost unconsciously at times, don't we? We listen to its lies and believe whatever 'feels best' at the moment, all the while ignoring the warning flags deep within our spirit that are telling us to act otherwise. Everyone has sinned, is a sinner, falling short of God's standards for living - in need of a 'life altering change' that can only come by saying yes to Jesus. God's grace comes to us without us even asking for it - offered to us in ways we might not even realize as God reaching out to us. Grace comes in the form of protection from serious harm when we choose to do dumb stuff...

And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. (Romans 5:9-11 NLT) The blood of Christ was shed, not just because he angered the Jewish leaders, but because our restoration into right relationship with our heavenly Father required a holy and pure sacrifice. What could never be accomplished by any other means was provided, once for all in his Son, Jesus Christ. Now, through faith, and not our own works, we are restored into right relationship with God. We might want to describe it as a 'friendship' with God, but we must never take this relationship for granted. The very thing that stood in the way of us enjoying a relationsh...

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10 NLT) So rich in kindness and grace. This really paints the picture of our loving and gracious God, doesn't it? We don't deserve his 'richness', but in spite of all our sin, he loves us so much. Our freedom from sin - our way out of all hurtful and harmful habits and hangups - is given in Christ Jesus. His kindness will never be 'repaid' by anything we do or say. We can but revel in his grace and worship him. God's plan? To bring us back into right relationship with him - no longer captive to sin; no longer given ove...

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (I John 1:8-9 NLT) You might be acquainted with the story recorded for us in the book of John where Jesus is teaching a crowd of people when the Pharisee leaders bring a woman to him who was caught in adultery. They expect him to back them up in their desire to stone the woman to death. Jesus' simple statement really puts grace on display for us, "let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone..." Before too much time passed, all her accusers turned around and silently left the scene. His next words are even more telling as it comes to seeing the impact of grace, "Didn’t even one of them condemn you...neither do I. Go and sin no more.” The truth is that we have ALL sinned - we ALL need grace. We ALL need to embrace the words, "Go and sin no more....

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. (2 Timothy 1:9-10 NLT) And now... Jesus came, he will come again, in the meantime - we live devoted lives. His grace came in human form, not so we could just be Sunday Christians - so we could live powerful, full, and complete lives both now and into eternity. Our part is to believe, then to follow. His part was to break the bonds of sin, then to continue to endue us with his power. And now... Let's live our new lives - holy lives, fully devoted to him. Not because we deserve his grace, repeatedly requiring renewal and regeneration, but because it is his plan to have us in his family. We may not hav...

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT) Isn't it a joy to be able to comfort someone else in their time of discomfort? When we needed it most, God was right there to comfort us. Now, in turn, it is our time to comfort others with the same measure God has given to us. Troubles souls need to find comfort and what better way to share Jesus than to bring them the comfort he provides? Comfort comes in many forms. Some of us need a warm hug or an arm around the shoulder. Others need a listening ear and a praying heart. Whatever 'form' comfort comes in, the one who needs it so desperately will be grateful for the sensitivity of your heart to be there for them in their time of 'need'.  We should never underestimate the comf...

O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. (Isaiah 25:1 NLT) Do you celebrate God in your life? Do you celebrate his goodness as well as his correction? It is an easy thing to celebrate him when he does something spectacular in your life, blessings abounding in every way. It is another thing to celebrate him when he identifies something within you that needs to change, bringing both the conviction and the grace to accomplish that change, isn't it? We might look toward heaven when all is going well, but do we tend to look inward at our failures when things didn't go so well? The more God corrects both the big and little things in our lives, the more we can be assured we are moving in the right direction with him. We should not fear his correction because it is essentially another 'blessing' from his throne! Salvation was a 'one-time' deal. Sanctificat...

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. (I John 4:11-12 NLT) Full expression of God's love through us. Isn't it amazing that the unseen God can be 'seen' through the actions of love that exist in our lives? God lives in us - those words ought to make us sit up and take notice of our behavior, shouldn't they? If we would stop for just a moment before we acted or responded, considering that he resides in our hearts, we might just respond a bit differently! His love is BROUGHT to full expression in us - when we love one another, we are bringing others into his presence.  And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have...

For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. (Galatians 2:19-21 NLT) When I tried to keep the law... Those words bespeak what a great many believe to be as the means by which they will 'get into heaven'. The law required US to do something, certain ways, at certain times, to get a certain result. Grace required Christ to do it all on our behalf because the 'something' we were or have been doing wasn't going to ever bring about the forgiveness of our sins. The law condemns. It never really sets anyone free. We may try to be good, ...

What can we bring to the Lord? Should we bring him burnt offerings? Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6-8 NLT) So many times, we seek to 'bring' something to God, offerings of some kind - all because we 'want' something from him. It is as though we have a 'transactional' relationship with him. I will do this if you do that. The moment we try to 'transact' with God is the moment we should realize his favor is not 'bought' with our good deeds. Our good deeds are an outflow of his favor and grace in our lives! God requires us to do what is right. There is no more 'beneficial' plan for our life than to walk...

As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor. A wise person chooses the right road; a fool takes the wrong one. You can identify fools just by the way they walk down the street! (Ecclesiastes 10:1-3) If you ever wondered about some of your decisions in life, you are not alone. I have built stuff, then looked at it a few years later wondering why I put it there or how come the materials haven't held up to the elements. I have said I'd do something, not really thinking through the demand it would place on my body or the time it would take. We all make those 'snap decisions', wondering desperately why we made THAT choice instead of the other. The hope is that we make wise ones, but truth be told, we ALL make some pretty foolish ones on occasion. What we do with that 'not very wise' choice is important. We can flounder around, looking for ways to escape the foolishness of it all, or we can simply go alo...

If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: “Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing” and “God will judge his people.” Nobody’s getting by with anything, believe me. (Hebrews 10:30-31) If we give up, turning our backs on God's grace, do we think we will just sail on by? The answer is quite clear from our passage - our judgment isn't going to be 'aw, I understand, you just needed a break from Jesus'. It is going to be 'you rejected me, divine judgment won't be pretty for ...

Nothing reflects so much honor on a workman as a trial of his work and its endurance of it. So it is with God. It honors Him when His saints preserve their integrity. (Charles Spurgeon) For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. (Philippians 2:13-15) Living with integrity is what pleases God and we can only accomplish this through the power of his Spirit that lives within us. Have you ever been criticized for being 'too good' or 'too respectable' in your actions? Don't stop living that way! It is a thing that definitely honors God! In the midst of trials, our endurance is put to the test. If we are truthful, none of us really enjoys the trial as much as we appreciate the 'thing within us' that keeps us strong, fait...

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? ...We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us. (2 Corinthians 2:15-17) Our lives are to be a fragrant thing. We actually exude an aroma of grace when we are followers of Christ. There is a scent you may not recognize behind that one of grace, though - the scent of accountability. Grace exudes a fragrance because forgiveness brings a releasing of a burden we could not bear up under any longer. A truthful heart that makes the connection with Jesus on an ongoing basis exudes the aroma of accountability - a transformed life always requires a spirit of willing submission. The fragrance our lives gi...

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and guilt And cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:1-2) You may not realize the act of mercy as much as you do the 'feeling' of mercy. God extends his mercy to us whenever we seek it, all the while 'feeling' the tremendous load of guilt lifting as he does. We are remorseful and kind of 'down' on ourselves because we gave into temptation. We 'feel' guilt because it is actually an emotion that begins to dominate our thoughts and other emotions whenever we find ourselves 'crossing some line' that our subconscious mind told us not to cross. The desire we entertained gave way to an unwarranted or unwanted action and now we are 'feeling' it. It only stands to reason that God's mercy would elicit the exact opposite reaction as our guilt did, doesn't it? Mercy is God's ...

But now, put all these things behind you. No more evil temper or furious rage: no more evil thoughts or words about others, no more evil thoughts or words about God, and no more filthy conversation. Don’t tell each other lies any more, for you have finished with the old man and all he did and have begun life as the new man, who is out to learn what he ought to be, according to the plan of God. (Colossians 3:8-10) The most powerful statement any of us can remember is: "You have finished with the old man and all he did and have begun life as the new man, who is out to learn what he ought to be..." Sometimes it feels like the 'old man' is still in control, giving into our tempers, not so God-honoring thoughts, gossip, and all kinds of ill-advised schemes. It would do us well to rehearse these words over and over again, especially when the 'old man' side of us wants to take control. Reminding ourselves that we have 'finished with the old man' isn't ju...

Bring your confessions, and return to the   Lord .   Say to him,  “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,   so that we may offer you our praises.  The  Lord  says,  “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;  my love will know no bounds,  for my anger will be gone forever. (Hosea 14:2, 4) Many forget just how far they have fallen away from what God intended. All have fallen and are somewhere 'short' of where they should be, but when we bring our confessions to God, fully devoting our hearts to him, we will find he heals us of all our faithlessness. His love indeed knows no bounds - especially when it comes to restoring a repentant heart and a hungry soul. Look at what the Israelites say: "Forgive ALL our sins and GRACIOUSLY receive us..." The truth is that sin finds an inroad, making its way into our hearts and minds, until one day we don't even realize just how far we have fallen. At whatever point God's grace finally taps in...

 The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. (Jeremiah 17:9-10) What does your heart hold onto? What 'secret motives' have been hidden away in the recesses of your mind, will, or emotions that seem to creep up at the weirdest times, giving you an urge to say or do things that you know you should not? We must never forget that God gave us our unique 'make-up' - body, soul, spirit. He created us and he has watched over our lives from the very beginning - even when we made bad choices, others inflicted pain upon us by their bad choices, or we struggled to make better ones than we had in our past. Our heart might want to betray us from time to time, but when our spirit is rightly connected with God's Spirit, we stand a much better chance of resisting temptation. As a young believer, I used to wonder what God meant by the words, "I give all...

It was Barack Obama who said, "We are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too." Confucious said, "The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home." We must never forget that nation after nation has fallen, only to be replaced by another who comes after, making those who remain 'foreigners' in that nation. What makes a nation great? If we trust what God says to us, it is the pursuit of all manner of good and the trust in his ways.  Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34) William Penn reminds us, "True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it." Mending fences has always been part of God's economy. He trusts us to seek out godly practices, replicating them in our homes, and then changing our communities through those godly actions. It is what truly will make any nation great...