The Plumbline

I have to say Craig Groeschel hit the nail on the head this past weekend when he pointed out how differently each of us views a 'fault' depending on whether you have it or it is my own personal one! He said something like 'we view your life by your actions, while we view our own by our intentions'. Telling isn't it? We judge another by their actions - while all the while we justify our actions by evaluating out intentions, not our actions! At times, we are presented with individuals who seem to have an "ulterior motive" in their actions. In other words, what is presented is really a "mask" for something being done to deceive the individual on the receiving end of the action. One thing is said, another is meant. One thing is done, but the intention behind it is completely contrary to the "appearance". This is dangerous ground for us - simply because we really don't know what to expect, or when to trust. If it is out own actions g...

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. ( Henry Ward Beecher ) I have a small sign in my office that was given to me some years ago. It was given as a way of reminding me of my importance as a leader in healthcare. I was actually being honored by my peers when I received it, but it has been with me ever since because it reminds me of a very important fact - we lead by example. The sign simply says, "Every time we walk by the violation of a standard, we set a new standard." I believe this is a derivation of what Lieutenant General David Morrison said when he is quoted as saying, "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." There are times we 'set new standards' because our behavior doesn't match the past standard we had come to follow, aren't there? When we drift from a standard, what is one of the most common things we do? Don't we attempt to cover it up by making an exc...

We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives. (Pr. 21:2) I can honestly way that we sometimes spend far more time working to show ourselves as good, or as justified in what we do, than in trying to change what it is we are doing. We want to be free from blame or guilt that might be associated with our actions or thoughts, but really don't rise above the wrong ones as much as we'd like to. What is worse is that we look at the actions of another and we begin to form judgments about that individual based solely upon their actions. The problem: we are making evaluation of that individual by what we see on the outside. We evaluate the activities of man, thinking we know the motives based on the actions that we see revealed - but I think we can also be totally truthful here - it is almost impossible for us to know the motives of another. It is pretty clear to me that actions do not always align with motives. This is why God looks closer at the motives of our h...

In charge - has the thought ever occurred to you to consider carefully who might just be "in charge" of your life?  Most of us would say we believe God is in charge of our lives - and we'd be correct in this assumption.  Yet, most of us live as though WE were in charge of our lives!  We don't consult God with our decisions - we make them and then look to him to "back us up" with those decisions.  We get ourselves into "binds" and expect him to bail us out.  At those moments when we are struggling to hold our head above water, we even get to thinking God may have just abandoned us.  Maybe the better perspective for us to have is not that he abandoned us, but that we totally missed out on the fact of his watchful protection over our lives even when WE insisted on being "in charge".  After wallowing for a while in our self-pity because we recognize our "plans" were not all that good, we find ourselves a little "exposed" b...

Nothing is more elusive than the approval of man.  Try as we might, we often fall short of what another expects of us - leaving us feeling like we haven't measured up and them experiencing disappointment.  Since it is so elusive, why do we spend so much time trying to "measure up" to some other man or woman's approval?  The approval of another is kind of like a well disguised snare in the path - we get caught up in it without even noticing we were headed in that direction!   The pathway to man's approval is pretty demanding, though.  It demands our time - often time we don't have to give. It demands our attention - often attention which is diverted from something which also requires our attention, but which will go without while we pursue something completely opposite.  It demands our energies - sucking us dry of that which really would be best utilized on a task designed by God for us. To the faithful  you show yourself faithful,   to the blame...