The Plumbline

Finishing is better than starting.  Patience is better than pride. (Ecclesiastes 7:8) Most of us like the 'finishing' better than the 'starting' part. Why? It means we have reached an end and if the starting was hard, the finishing could be a reward of sorts. We view the finish line as somewhat of a relief, while the starting line can be filled with all manner of anxious thought, fears about what isn't known, and hard steps. We might not be ready for the 'starting line' today, but when we 'begin' something with God, we are sure to appreciate the reward at the 'finish line'. The parts in between the start and the finish are what require us to have patience. Maybe that is why it makes the start so hard for us at times. We don't want the 'middle part' of the journey as much as we want the 'finishing part'. The stuff that happens in the middle part of the journey is what makes the journey worthwhile, though. It isn't just ...

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.  (Harry S. Truman) It was Truman who was first quoted as saying, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." There are times we feel the heat rising in our lives and we get doggone uncomfortable in the process. If we took Truman's suggestion, we'd bolt every time we felt a bit too uncomfortable for our liking. If we always bolted when things got a little too 'heated' in our lives, what do you think we'd accomplish? Not a whole heck of a lot, that's for sure! We'd spend more time running that we'd spending 'accomplishing'! The fastest runner does not always win the race, the strongest soldier does not always win the battle, the wisest does not always have food, the smartest does not always become wealthy, and the talented one does not always receive praise. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) We ALL can start the race, but will we ALL finish it? Some will drop ...

I keep running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven. ( Philippians 3:14 ERV ) I read this passage again this morning in the Easy to Read version and I saw a couple of things that really hadn't dawned on me before. While not every translation puts the original intent perfectly, there is some validity to just looking at the passage from a different perspective once in a while as it can bring things to light you may not have seen in quite that perspective before! Here's what I saw: - The prize is already ours! We are running a race that is already pre-determined to have us as winners - to gain the prize, we just keep running. I think there are a whole lot of us that have the idea we run to attain - but we really run because it is already ours. - We are called, so we should live up to our calling! Through Christ Jesus, we are called. In him, we have a new purpose and destiny. We are dest...

We are reaching the end of 2014 - for some a grateful end to a tough year, while others will look back and not even realize the passing of time.  Some will mourn the loss of loved ones, or the devastation of properties in the wake of some natural disaster.  Others will celebrate new life coming, or the advancement into a new place in life's journey.  Regardless of mourning or celebration, it all comes to an end and it is the end which also marks a new beginning.  We don't mourn forever - this is not God's way.  We don't celebrate without something also taking us down a pathway of "lesser" enjoyment - this is the way growth occurs.  It is not uncommon for us to judge the end of something to determine if it was worth the journey - the final scene determining the value of the whole.  We forget the "middle" simply because the beginning and the end stand in such stark contrast to each other at times.  Yet, it is the middle where the rubber hit the roa...

Did you ever stop to think about what it means to be "spirit-begotten"?  I have taken a couple of opportunities to focus on this idea of being "begotten" and just what "family line" has to do with the type of person we are declared to be.  Notice I said "declared to be".  If we are to be the type of people we are declared to be, we have to stop walking in the old patterns and start walking in the new.  For example, if a prisoner is to be set free from a jail cell after 20 years in confinement, he must learn what it like to have freedoms of his own.  He doesn't have the same degree of restrictions his bondage kept him in.  He has new freedoms which he may pursue - not just think about. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run  with perseverance  the race marked out for us,   2  fixing our eyes on Jesus,  the p...

I have a friend who is into running - she does marathons - long ones, at that!  Goodness, running all those miles and doing it over and over again - it just amazes me what some people have the ability to do when they put their minds to it.  Most remarkably, she is a runner with a cause - she runs her marathons in dedication to those children who suffer from leukemia.  Now, we could take a lesson from my friend, couldn't we?  We could learn to "run" instead of being "sedentary" - and we could learn to do it with a purpose instead of haphazardly! I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending f...

1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1-3) The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a record of many individuals throughout history that faced insurmountable doubts in their faith and came out on the other side of those doubts, confidence firmly rooted in God's ability to deliver them f...