The Plumbline

Your message brings light to people, when they understand it. It helps ordinary people to become wise. (Psalm 119:130 EASY) Ordinary people with the wisdom of God - now isn't that a pretty amazing thought? The more we press into God's Word, the more his wisdom becomes part of who we are. The 'ordinary' become wise - not with 'common sense', but with wisdom that is born from the very heart of God himself. His message brings light. How? It is a message of redemption. Anyone who has messed something up by some particular action will tell you that a chance at a 'do-over' can bring 'redemption' of sorts. When we didn't get a passing grade on our exam and the teacher announced we could retake it, that gave us a renewed sense of hope - hope for a passing grade. When God gives us light, he is showing us that our mess isn't going to be our undoing - it is the place where he can begin to reveal himself. I am not alone in this - we all mess up on o...

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. (Zephaniah 3:17) Judah was in pretty bad circumstances all due to their idol worship and all the wickedness they had embraced because of the influence of the foreign peoples they were living amongst. The whole purpose of Zephaniah's words was to call Judah, and especially Jerusalem, to repentance and restoration. They have become rebellious, full of themselves, moving further and further away from the worship of the one True God. The people had 'mixed' religious practices, some were what God had asked in the Law of Moses, others were from the regions in which they now resided. Whenever we allow a 'mixture' of practices or beliefs, departing from what scripture clearly defines as moral, upright, honorable, or holy, we are in danger of doing exactly what Judah is found at f...

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. (Romans 3:23-24) All really doesn't mean there are any exclusions - it means ALL have sinned, no one is exempt. That may be hard for some to palette, but it is an inescapable fact. God set a standard - we fall short of it each and every time we attempt to even approach it, so we needed his Son to do it for us. Grace has been and is still being extended to all who would trust him for this great gift of redemption. Redemption is a big word that really means we are made right with a holy God by trusting in the finished work of Jesus. He bridged the gap between our imperfection and God's perfect holiness. We are able to come boldly into his presence now because we have received his grace. The standard was met in Christ - we just need to meet Christ in order to receive grace...

I am the path, the truth, and the energy of life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you know the Father. Rest assured now ; you know Him and have seen Him. (John 14:6-7) Pathways don't just 'become pathways' out of the blue. The first set of footprints across that path leaves small impressions where your foot came to rest with each step. The more the same steps are followed - either by your own movement or that of others - the more a "path" begins to be worn. The original footprints are still there, but they are underneath all the others which have passed over the same spot. This a path - the route which has become the place of movement and passage. I want us to begin to think of what Christ did on our behalf as he took the first steps into an eternity of grace on our behalf. Eternity's "grace" path began with one set of footprints, and down through the ages, by others following in those footprints, eternity's ...

I think God fully understands how we interpret the trials and long periods of seemingly receiving no answer from him - those times when we just want to pull our hair out, scream little, stomp our feet, and generally tell the world that God isn't listening or that he doesn't care about us at this very moment! We all have those times - admit it.  We chafed against the agony of the waiting, expected a different outcome and was disappointed by the present one, and whined when things just didn't go as we expected.  All the while, we have one thing we do with some consistency - complain.  Even the most consistent Christian has moments when the agony just gets to us and we find ourselves complaining a little, or perhaps a little too much!  The most amazing part of this is that God doesn't turn his back on us, even when we are heavily engaged in the complaint process. Job answered:   I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me.    I should never have opened my m...

God keeps a special eye on his people - not letting them stay down too long if they trip up or stumble.  This should give most of us (if not all of us) a whole lot of encouragement each time we find ourselves with skinned knees and a wounded bit of pride!  Sometimes, we find ourselves "tripped up" because of things of our own doing - like willful disobedience, compromise, and outright wrong choices.  At other times, we find there has been someone in our path who purposefully sticks their foot out in hopes we will stumble and fall. Now, that may seem a bit harsh to state, but I think there are those who relish the idea of creating a little bit of havoc in the lives of others.  A word of warning to these folks - God won't let us stay down long - his hand is already outstretched even before the foot crosses our path to trip us up! Don’t interfere with good people’s lives;   don’t try to get the best of them. No matter how many times you trip them up,   Go...

1-5  I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I'm God-commissioned. So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes! (Galations 1:1-5 The Message) We begin a new series this morning in the book of Galations.  The author is Paul, a disciple of Christ, born out of the ranks of the Jews - - a former persecutor of the believers in Jesus.  He begins with his credentials.  Whenever we are establishing new "relationship" with people, isn't this similar t...