The Plumbline

Come, let us bow down and worship him! Let us kneel before the Lord who made us. He is our God, and we are the people he cares for, his sheep that walk by his side. Listen to his voice today... (Psalm 95:6-7) We are to approach, not with pride, but in humility. Not with the list of good deeds we have managed to accomplish, but with the trust that our lack of goodness will be met with the fullness of his grace. If we are to come - to approach or move toward - we have to a set course of purpose. Let us bow - we are to incline ourselves so as to be in the position of reverence; to yield ourselves to God alone. Let us worship him - honor and adore him because none other should be our focus. Take a knee in submission so as to no longer be in a position to run. Before him, we are waiting on him. Quite a beginning to our study today, isn't it? There is no longer any running - but yielded spirit, open heart, and focused attention. This is how we approach the throne of God. He is our Go...

If you stop learning, you will forget what you already know. (Proverbs 19:27) It has been a good day whenever I learn something new. Ever had to learn a lesson you just didn't want to learn? I have - too many times to count! Those are the ones that are tough to learn, but necessary if we are to grow up into strong and "survivable" creatures. I had to learn to brush my teeth, or decay would ensue. I had to learn to tie my shoes because I would trip over the laces if untied. These were probably some of the easier lessons to learn in this life - the ones I can say I have mastered. Then there are the tougher ones - like learning to keep my mouth shut at times when less words are better than more, or how to navigate risky relationship paths that need to be traversed, but which are pocked with all kinds of landmines! You know those lessons I am referring to - for you have your own. In those moments, it would be easiest to just stop learning - to say the learning would b...

Life Hack #22: It’s better to be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel. (Proverbs 24:5-6) Back in the day, it was not uncommon to witness kids squaring off on the playground, then announcing: "My dad can beat your dad any day"? One child trying to prove something - that he or she has an advantage. Advantage is something we have been trying to "get" ever since we took our first breath. We are after any opportunity or circumstance we can "work our way" into to ensure success or a particular desired end. I remember learning some hand-to-hand combat maneuvers in the military, somehow thinking knowing the maneuvers would give me some advantage over another if the situation arose. I know I would have zero advantage over a black belt in karate, let alone a 250-pound angry military man! Why? What I was putting my faith in as "advantage" was pretty unre...

By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. I’ve committed myself and I’ll never turn back from living by your righteous order. Everything’s falling apart on me, God; put me together again with your Word. Festoon me with your finest sayings, God; teach me your holy rules. (Psalm 119:105-108) How is your life going? You might be living by default rather than by any particular design. When you buy a new electronic device, there is a "factory preset" for how the system should work. It is called the "default" operating system. As time goes on and you become more familiar with what the device can actually do when it gets off the "default" mode, you might actually find you can do some pretty handy things with the device. "Default" is only a beginning spot - it isn't where we are designed to live. When we settle for "default", we negate the purpose of being created with the various abilities Go...

God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life. (Psalm 62:1-2) I saw a quote by "Missional Women" that read: "It is better to wait on God than to have regrets." It hit me that we all deal with regrets and if this 'waiting on God' part of our lives were just a bit better, we might not have quite so many. As King David proposed, if we wait as long as God says, the outcome may just be a little more certain. Why? The ground we stand upon is solid - the place where we take refuge while we wait gives us the needed time to breathe in and breathe out. We are to go to God, waiting upon him as long as HE says, not trudging ahead because WE say it is time to move. I speak for myself here - waiting is tough business. My mind gets me in muddle and the muddle just gets worse as I imagine all "I" could be doing if...

I don't know about you, but I need to be taught to make the right choices. I might 'know better' than to do some things like putting my hands on a hot stove or getting my thumb too close to the hammer when driving a nail, but did I just 'get that' intuitively? No, I had to learn the hard way - through experience. It wasn't that mom didn't warn me the stove was hot - she did many times. It wasn't that dad didn't show me the right way to hold a nail and hammer - he did many times. I just didn't listen - I didn't learn the first time, either! I had many a 'hot moment' experience and have hit that same thumb more times than I can count! With each time I made the wrong choice, there was the opportunity for me to learn to make the right ones. In all of life wrong choices aren't 'wasted' - they are times when we can 'come back around' to the place where we learn to make the right ones the next time. Oh! Teach us to live ...

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. ( James 1:19   NLT ) Do you know anybody who can go from "chill" to "overkill" in somewhere under 30 seconds? Uh oh...did I just hear someone say, "Yep, that's me"? You aren't alone, my friend - there are lots and lots of us, sometimes more than we want to admit, that can lose our cool quicker than ice melts on an Arizona sidewalk in summer! Most of the time, the challenge isn't in not reacting - it is in choosing what it is we will react to. Three concepts are outlined in our passage here, but before we explore these, let's look at something that gets overlooked - the introduction to these words. James has just spent some time speaking about how God blesses those who endure testing and temptation with something called patience. He adds to that thought the reminder it is "when" we are tempted, not "if...

I love the Eternal; for not only does He hear my voice, my pleas for mercy, But He leaned  down when I was in trouble and brought  His ear close to me. So as long as I have breath, I will call on Him. (Psalm 116:1-2 VOICE) I just love the word pictures painted in scripture because they are so rich in meaning.  When I am sitting right next to my grandson, he may not talk very loudly because of the proximity we hold to each other, but one thing I do is lean in closer. Why?  I don't want to miss a word and I want to make that connection be very real for him.  Somehow when I lean in closer, the space between us narrows and the "clarity" of what is being said is very apparent. It also gives me a chance to see what he usually has in hands at the moment!  It may be a video game, or a creation crafted from those colorful building blocks, or even a picture he has drawn which tells some story he wants me to know.  It doesn't really matter what is in his hands...

Praise the Eternal!  Write new songs; sing them to Him with all your might!  Gather with His faithful followers in joyful praise; let all of Israel celebrate their Maker, their God, their friend; let the children of Zion find great joy in their true King.  So let the music begin; praise His name—dance and sing to the rhythm of the tambourine, and to the tune of the harp.  For the Eternal is listening, and nothing pleases Him more than His people; He raises up the poor and endows them with His salvation. (Psalm 149:1-4 VOICE) A new song - isn't it kind of exciting to hear that new release from your favorite artist? When they first put out that new recording, it may be heard a million times or more in one day nowadays.  In the good ole days of yesteryear, they'd have to crank out those vinyl disks, lay out a track on an 8-track or cassette tape, and then eventually we saw the evolution of the compact disk - all of which took time to produce, p...

Have you ever been awakened out of a deep sleep, believing you hear someone calling your name?  Since I have an elderly parent living in my home, I usually spring right out of bed and make my way to her room, imagining she has fallen or is crying out for some other reason to get my help.  It happens every now and again, and honestly, I cannot say that it wasn't a real voice, because it sounds just as though you and I were speaking face-to-face, but louder!  I will go into her room to find her totally asleep and snoring lightly in the depth of her slumber.  So, who was it I heard?  Was it just my imagination?  Or was there some other source for the voice?  Whenever this happens, I sit on the edge of the bed for a while trying to listen to God, hoping to find a reason why I was awakened that way.  In time, it usually leads me to pray for those closest to me, often because I feel I was awakened for a reason - although I don't specifically know the r...

Come - to approach or move toward; to arrive my movement or a set course of purpose.  Let - to cause or make something occur. Us - you and me.  Bow - incline ourselves so as to be in the position of reverence; to yield ourselves to another. Worship - honor and adore. Him - none other should be our focus.  Kneel - take a knee in submission; to no longer be in a position to run.  Before - awaiting what only comes when we are both yielded and no longer running. The Lord - the creator of all things.  Quite a beginning to our study today, isn't it?  We are to approach, not with pride, but in humility. Not with the list of good deeds we have managed to accomplish, but with the trust that our lack of goodness will be met with the fullness of his grace.  There is no longer any running - but yielded spirit, open heart, and focused attention.  This is how we approach the throne of God. Come, let us bow down and worship him! Let us kneel before the Lo...

Winston Churchill was once quoted as saying, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."  If you haven't noticed this yet, we listen better when we sit down.  It may be that it lightens the load of having to stand there to listen, or just that it changes our point of reference to each other, but there is something which changes when we sit down and really begin to get on the same level as the one we are attempting to listen to.  Covey likens "really listening" to something akin to the oxygen we breathe, but equates it to some type of "emotional oxygen" which revives us deep into the very depths of our emotions.  If you stop to think about it, he is pretty spot on in this observation - people need to be heard and listening to them really does "infuse" them with a new sense of emotional energy.  As Churchill observed, that simple courage to "get down to each other's level...

Have you ever been accused of being a little too "chatty" - always talking away, not really intent on any particular subject, just talking non-stop?  I have one child who is quiet, content to sit for long periods without so much as a word, while another is just the opposite. This isn't unusual, as most of us have differences in how it is we "interact" with others.  In fact, if you consider your immediate family, you will find there are those who are reserved, others outgoing.  It is kind of a dangerous position to find oneself in, though, when we are a little "too chatty".  Why?  There are times when we don't always consider the words we use - because we aren't quiet long enough to consider the way we say them, the content we use in saying them, and how it is another may receive them.  The "chatty" run into problems because they are too chatty - the "quiet" run into their share of problems because no one really knows what t...

In finding the right candidate for a position, an employer considers the skills the individual requires for the performance of their duties.  These skills can be defined as both "hard" skills (the ability to type 90 words a minute) and "soft" skills (the ability to be courteous when answering the phones).  The "soft" skills are a little harder to find - often not really observed until you get the person in the specific situation where they will need to display these "soft" skills.  The skilled employer will use specifically crafted interview questions and examples to attempt to discover if the individual has those "soft" skills, but believe me, people can "tell" you they possess them, but until you see them in action, you really don't know if they do or not.  One such skill is the ability to listen before one formulates or gives an answer.  This is a "soft" skill, to be sure, but it is often coupled with some of...

Did you ever stop to consider the "skill" of listening?  If we are to really understand what listening is and is not, we must probably understand what listening "is not" first.  This will help us to "carve out" what listening really is. The idea of listening is not just "hearing" words said.  It is not being intermittently engaged in conversation.  It is not double-tasking - doing one thing while allegedly listening.  I have tried all these things - "hearing", engaging half-heartedly, and double-tasking.  What happens is that my attention is not directed as it should be, my heart isn't into it, and I just plain miss stuff!  We can either develop a "habit" of being good listeners, or the one of not listening as we should.  The latter is a bad habit!  There is probably no habit quite so difficult to break - no skill so difficult to learn. I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you sinc...

Wisdom dictates we listen more than we speak - but I have to honestly ask how well we are doing on that one?  Listening is an art - learned not because we really want to learn it, but because if we don't learn how to listen, we will eventually get life pretty much as we like it, but we might just be the only ones left in the picture once we do!  I suspect there is much to this listening "art" which many of us have yet to perfect.  In fact, learning this "art" of listening requires we not only learn how to "tune into" the voice we hear, but we learn to "recognize" the voice.  I think many of us hear those "voices" in our heads - hopefully not too many of them - but we don't always know which one is the one we should be listening to.  If you have ever seen the commercial where there is a little guy in white on one shoulder and a little guy in black on the other and the lady is trying to figure out if she can give her kid chocolat...

Many of us have a tendency to listen, but be less than attentive to what we are hearing - something which quite honestly results in a little less than "perfect obedience" when it comes to us listening to God.  It should not surprise us God puts these concepts of "listening" with "obedience" and "learning" with "living".  What we hear, we are to respond to in a prompt manner.  What we come to know, we are to live out.  It is repeated over and over in scripture.  In fact, James warns against being a "hearer" and not a "doer" of the Word -  Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other.  Act  on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like . (James 1:22-23 MSG)  This "in one ear, out the other" thing runs...