The Plumbline

Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods. (Psalm 16:4)  As we are reminded in Proverbs 17, "Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth. Foolish children bring grief to their father and bitterness to the one who gave them birth." (vs. 24-25) Run away from God and toward anything else that we embrace in place of God in our lives, and we will soon know the bitterness that comes from pursuing these 'false gods'. Kids do a wide variety of things that parents may label as 'sweet', 'cute', or 'precious', but God will always label our wayward desire to put anything else in his place in our lives as 'sin'. Reject God by not putting him in his right place as Lord of our lives and we will soon reap the 'reward' of that rebellious spirit - the consequences may not be all that kind to us. If you have been anything like me, you might just know there is a certain amount of ...

Do you ever have days when you wonder why you say what you say? I do! Days when the words just seem to "pop out" without any forethought or 'governor' over them! I guess we all have those days if were were to be totally honest with each other. There are other days when I seem to drift into some kind of "daydreaming" mode and just drift along, not really there, but aware I should be. When I look at the end of the day I wonder why I just did not accomplish much, why my interactions with others didn't amount to much, or why things just seem kind of 'blah' in my life. At other times, I am so productive and accomplish much, every interaction is solid, and I end on an upbeat. Most would consider this kind of "up and down" behavior as a little bit of inconsistency - the actions don't consistently match the words or the intentions. True that! If you have figured out a way to always, 100% of the time walk in consistency....patent it! ...

Saw a post this morning that I just had to re-post: " There's a difference between remorse and repentance. Remorse is being sorry for being caught. Repentance is being sorry enough to stop. " (Greg Laurie)  I think this is so very true! There are probably a whole lot of us walking around out there with some warped idea of repentance - thinking it is what Greg said - being "sorry".  The truth of the matter is that until we "stop", we are only "sorry".  It isn't regret which brings a change of heart and mind, but truthful desire to do whatever it takes to change the way we have been thinking and acting! Regret may seem legit, but it is nothing more than a sense of thinking about what one has lost!  I dropped my breakfast pastry on the floor the other morning - something I regretted. I thought about that warm pastry stuffed with strawberry filling for a little bit - eyeing it just lying there on the floor. I could have scooped it up - the f...

We all have various people knock on our door, or ring the doorbell.  Sometimes it is a much awaited delivery of something we have ordered and anticipated with much excitement.  At others, it is simply a nuisance, such as when it is a salesperson trying to get you to sign up for a year's worth of car washes.  Maybe it is a friend, unexpectedly stopping by, hoping to catch up with you over a cup of coffee.  Some of these knocks get answered with more gusto than others, right?  Perhaps you have a little "peephole" in your door like I do.  When you glance through and see someone standing there with their list of magazines to subscribe to, you might be tempted to not even open the door, right?  Whoever invented the "peephole" had a brilliant idea!  Whoever invented the window alongside my front door - no so brilliant!  It is hard not to answer when someone can see me looking through the peephole!  I wonder just how many times we open our door...