The Plumbline

Whoever said we could walk through this life without worries, difficulties, or unresolved issues was probably not a well person! Choosing to serve Christ does not elevate an individual above the ebbs and flows of life. In fact, it almost guarantees a few more hurdles! If we really are living for Christ, we will face challenging people, circumstances, and moments of potential compromise which we may not have encountered otherwise. Worries are still going to come, simply because we all have a tendency to want to 'hold everything together' ourselves. We just don't get used to turning things over to God quickly, bearing much more weight upon our shoulders than we really need to bear. You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the tro...

"The precision of naming takes away from the uniqueness of seeing."   (Pierre Bonnard) If you haven't noticed, we spend a great deal of our lives putting "names" or "labels" on things. In school, you get a red mark in the form of either a letter or numeric "grade" - labeling the work you have performed as either "passing" or "failing". In the sixties, those with long hair, loose fitting clothing, and wearing sandals were labeled "hippies". Folks who are comfortable taking up signs of protest of the lawn of our capital buildings are labeled "radicals". Still others who are slow to learn, unable to integrate into society, or below a certain "intelligence quotient" are labeled as "backward", "disabled", or even something worse. Names and labels do a great deal to take away from us seeing the uniqueness in each individual and I don't believe God get much glory when we ...

" The precision of naming takes away from the uniqueness of seeing ."  (Pierre Bonnard)  I realize this quote comes from an artist who painted mostly from memory, photos, and sketches, but these words speak volumes about how we view things in life.  If we are so caught up in putting a "name" to everything and everyone we see, we often miss the unique beauty in the object or person.  The other problem with "naming" people is that we soon learn to think of them by that "title" we place over their lives and forget all the other characteristics they possess in their lives which actually are way more important than the one we seem to zero in on! If the title is "precious" or "beautiful", someone may not resist the "impression" that title conjures up in a person's mind.  If the title is "loser" or "nerd", that one may be a little harder to stomach! Now  since we have chosen to walk with the Spi...

I had to chuckle when I read a passage this morning.  Did you ever think God a little comical in what he records in scripture?  Sometimes you come across something you know is really not "comical", but when you see it, you cannot help yourself - you laugh!  Yep....that's what happened when I came across the portion of scripture which described a billy goat as a "solemn dignitary"! 29-31  There are three solemn dignitaries,  four that are impressive in their bearing— a lion, king of the beasts, deferring to none;  a rooster, proud and strutting;  a billy goat;  a head of state in stately procession.   (Proverbs 30:29-31) Okay...now come on...did you ever consider a billy goat as a "solemn dignitary" of the barnyard?  I got the whole king of beasts lion thing and even the rooster strutting his stuff - but the billy goat??? As is often the case, I laugh first, then consider what I laughed at!  Think about the goat.  First, ...

Don't judge wine by its label,    or its bouquet, or its full-bodied flavor. Judge it rather by the hangover it leaves you with—    the splitting headache, the queasy stomach. (Proverbs 23:31-32) I am not a connoisseur of wine, so I know very little about what makes a good bottle of wine.  You could show me one bottle right after another, and I would probably do what anyone who knows wine would cringe at - I'd pick it by the pretty label or the nice bottle!  The one who consumes the product in the bottle is the one who knows it best!   This passage speaks a lot more to me, though.  I think we do a whole lot of "label" reading, even a little look inside, then come to the conclusion that whatever we are examining looks good.  It isn't until we have consumed it fully (or it has consumed us) that we understand just how lousy the thing was!  We are left with a really bad taste from the experience of "consuming" what it was we w...