The Plumbline

"Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” (John 7:24) These words struck me this morning as I was reading the account of Jesus going up to the Feast of Tabernacles and the people hearing his message, amazed at his depth of teaching though he was not a 'scholar' of the Law of Moses. They are in awe of his wisdom and well-grounded instruction, but miss the point that he is the living, breathing Messiah. Jesus assures them his message is not his own but comes from is Father - "Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies." (vs. 17-18) Though speaking the truth, they could only see the things they knew about Jesus - that he was a son of Joseph, a carpenter, born into a village without nobility or honor. They could not see beneath the surface, so they were not ...

I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. T he smallness you feel comes from within you . Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! (2 Corinthians 6:11-13) Small spaces can be quite confining. I learned much about caves, caverns, and the formation of stalagmites and stalactites while on vacations and cave exploring. The magnificence and beauty of these spaces buried way underground is truly awe-inspiring. In those moments of taking in those beautiful displays of crystalline-like beauty, I just wanted to break out in hymns of praise! I am not an experiences spelunker. I did breathe in deeply and just sigh loudly at the amazing beauty of our heavenly Father's creative power - even when it is buried deep within the hidden spaces of this earth. Being some 200-250 feet below ground didn't...

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside , and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you . (2 Corinthians 5:16-20) Do you know ju...

Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with  beauty and  truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy.    Keep to the script: whatever you learned and received and heard and saw in me—do it—and the God of peace will walk with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 VOICE) Paul was the kind of guy many might think of as "Ivy League". He was considered to the be the Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Jewish Rabbi, high up in the ranks of "religious zealots" of his day.  We might liken that to being "top of the class" - or lettering in a varsity sport - getting a name for yourself - or even being in the spotlight. He excelled in the study of the Law of Moses and practiced it down to the smallest instruction. He was too good to walk on the same side of the street as the leper, and too righteous to associate with sinners of any kind. He took issue with this new-fo...