The Plumbline

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. (Proverbs 13:20) Do you remember the story of Abraham and Lot - both with growing flocks, herds, and wealth? The time came when they needed to separate their flocks and herds because of what ranchers might have called 'overcrowding' of the animals. They were 'over-grazing' the lands, so they needed to find 'independent' grazing grounds. As you may recall from the story, Lot chose what looked best for himself, his family, herds, and flocks. He moved lock, stock, and barrel into a land way to close to the sinful people of Sodom, a mistake that would cost him dearly. The company of fools soon rubs off on those who spend enough time with them. Before long, Lot was so accustomed to the 'culture' of the day that he didn't even confront sin any longer. His choice of grazing ground may have been a little self-centered as it was 'choice ground', but that 'choic

  So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:2) How many times do we find ourselves going along with the crowd just because we have become so 'well-adjusted to our culture'? We move toward the newest trend, all because we are listening to the voice of the crowd. We take on more debt than we should, all because someone said we couldn't live without something. We might be mo

Andrew Young reminds us, "We rise in glory as we sink in pride." He also reminds us, "Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got." Two seemingly different statements, but there is something that is consistent in both - WE are not to be at the center. Pride may not be what we label our sense of 'importance', or our desire to be 'noticed', but pride is a result of us being a little bit too close to the 'center' in our lives instead of Jesus. Influence is something we might desire to have in life, so those around us are positively affected by whatever it is we say and do. If the reason we desire influence is so that others will take notice of something we have done, pride may be just a little too closely related to what we believe to make us 'influential' in life. The greatest 'influence' comes not in us being noticed, but Christ being noticed IN us. When you heard that Good News, you beli

In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me. He is for me! How can I be afraid? What can mere man do to me?   ( Psalm 118:5-6   TLB ) What can mere man to do me? That is a powerful question many of us never really take the time to explore. The more accurate question we may want to ask ourselves is, "What has mere man been doing to me?" What is it you have come to believe or accept simply because someone told you, or because of their "threats" you now behave a particular way in response to those threats? There is a fine line between our behavior and our beliefs - we aren't usually too far off in our behavior when it comes to these two things! May I meddle for a moment this morning? Way too many of us have some "fear". We don't want to "rock the boat" at work because we fear we may lose our job even though we are clearly aware of practices or behaviors that have become "common place" that ought no

Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. ( Romans 12:2   ERV ) It is hard not letting the world change us, isn't it? We see so much that influences the way we feel about ourselves, from fashion to weight reducing surgery. We come across all manner of bad news meant to "inform us" and then the occasional story meant to "inspire us". We hear reports of war, threats of power-hungry men seeking notoriety in not so friendly ways, and even stories of terrible choices made by others that leads to astronomical outcomes ranging from suicide by the bullied and mass murders by the angered or insane. The world has a way of changing us in direct proportion to the amount of the world we allow to get inside of our minds, emotions, and hearts. The ab

I don't know about you, but it is hard for me not to be changed by the things I see and hear around me all the time.  These influences wreak havoc on my thoughts, pulling at my emotions, and challenging my beliefs all the time.  It is a daily battle to just take a stand for what I believe to be right and then to actually remain standing at the end of the day sometimes!  It is easy to be changed into something we are not, simply because we aren't paying close attention to the influences which are pulling on us so frequently throughout the day.  By the end of the week, you could probably miss how much you have "adapted" to those influences until you really take the time to examine just how closely you are doing what you truly know God wants you to be doing.  We have to be on our guard to not let the world change us, but to go frequently to God, allowing him to change us from the inside out - influencing our thoughts, emotions, and ultimately our actions by his grace.

"I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity; Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.  The Fear-of-God means hating Evil, whose ways I hate with a passion—pride and arrogance and crooked talk.  Good counsel and common sense are my characteristics; I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out." (Proverbs 8:11-14 The Message) When I went through Bible School, my professor taught us that "Wisdom" in the Proverbs is really a reference to a person - not just something to be gained.  I had never really considered that before, but I came to realize that he was right.  You see, Wisdom is really referring to Jesus.  The more of Jesus I have replicated in my life, the more wisdom I begin to possess.  From that perspective, I'd like to "unpack" these verses a little.  Wisdom (Christ) produces certain other "characteristic traits" within us - sanity, knowledge, discretion, insight, and virtue are but a few of these traits.  Whenever anyon