The Plumbline

Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. (Psalm 112:3, 7-8 NLT) Wouldn't it be nice to face our foes in triumph instead of always looking over our shoulders to see when the next attack will come? To stand in such confidence so as to not fear the schemes of our enemy the devil is definitely not something we could ever do under our own power or in our own strength. We must have an 'internal strength' that is sure and certain - something we cannot achieve as long as we want to live our lives outside of the protection that comes from knowing and serving Jesus Christ.  The godly don't fear the 'bad news' of the day - and we certainly receive more than our fair share of that these days, don't we? The 'bad news' is so prolific because the 'bad deeds' of so many is pretty prolific, as well. The event...

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6 NLT) Have you ever just sat down, kind of defeated because you 'gave in', and wondered when or if God would ever be finished 'sanctifying' your life? You return to an old way of acting, engage in a display of hurtful behavior, or just plain don't do what you knew was the right thing to do - then you just wallow in the 'when will this ever be different in me' kind of questioning. Take heart, dear ones, for God will CONTINUE his work UNTIL it is finally finished - but you can count on that to continue until he returns! We don't change overnight, although the work begins. We aren't transformed with a magic wand, but we do have supernatural power resident within us. We won't have our desires instantly changed, but we do sense there has been a shift in those desires. That is God at w...

“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 34:6-7) As God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, he also gave him this message. I have frequently been asked what it means when God says he will "lay the sins of the parents upon their children...", to the third and fourth generations. Does that mean God will make four generations 'pay for' the sins of their forefathers? Not exactly. It does mean that what one generation 'tolerates' or 'accepts as okay' that is clearly outside of what God commands would result in future generations accepting and engaging in actions even worse. Thus, it results in the '...

Correct a worthless bragger, and all you will get are insults and injuries. Any bragger you correct will only hate you. But if you correct someone who has common sense, you will be loved. If you have good sense, instruction will help you to have even better sense. And if you live right, education will help you to know even more. (Proverbs 9:7-9) We definitely benefit from correction when it is embraced and does the work it was intended to do, but it is not always pleasant or easily embraced. Did it ever occur to you that God is giving us a chance to prove we have actually learned from our mistakes? We need to view correction as a means of learning from mistakes - not as a punishment or some form of "penalty" for what it is we have done. The truth is we make a sufficient number of mistakes each day - if it were not for the ability to "correct" those mistakes along the way, I don't think many relationships would have lasted, nor would progress have been made i...