The Plumbline

We Jews came to Christ to be made right with God, so it is clear that we were sinners too. Does this mean that Christ makes us sinners? Of course not. But I would be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up. It was the law itself that caused me to end my life under the law. I died to the law so that I could live for God. I have been nailed to the cross with Christ. So I am not the one living now—it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God. He is the one who loved me and gave himself to save me. I am not the one destroying the meaning of God’s grace. If following the law is how people are made right with God, then Christ did not have to die. (Galations 2:17-21) I know there is a lot of commotion in the world right now about what religion one practices.  As strongly as I feel about the faith I have in Christ Jesus, I cannot see the need for this type of response to the beliefs of others.  It is indeed a tragedy for some to fo

I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:14-19) God's people will continue to struggle with the influence of those 'religious individuals' around them who seek to 'bind' them with rules and regulations. In Paul's epistle to the Galatian church, he recounted the purpose for the Law of Moses - to point out the need for a Savior - but he also reminded them how impossibl

It isn't where we worship - it is who we worship. It isn't about a place - it is about the heart. This Samaritan woman came to draw water from a well, but I doubt she expected this encounter with Jesus. She knew the prophets had predicted the Messiah to come, but did she know she'd encounter him at the side of the well? She just went there daily to draw the water and return to her duties back in the village. Today, she would not only be challenged by someone who knew her past, but she was being challenged to have her future changed for the better. That is how it is when we encounter Jesus - our past might have been a challenge for us, but our future doesn't have to be! “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer ma

I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. (Galatians 5:4-6) I bet no one will be surprised to know that I spent a great deal of time trying to be holy by completing various religious 'plans' and 'projects'. I'd fast for a day, not really knowing why I was doing it, but someone told me it would 'make me closer to God'. I'd read a certain number of chapters in the Bible every day, not really getting much out of it, all because someone told me I needed to make a 'plan' for reading through the Bible every year. I'd go to church every Sunday morning, Sunday even

  They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,   a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (I Peter 2:8-9) Obedience is a hard topic to discuss, but a much harder lifestyle to maintain. We WANT to be obedient at ALL times, but we honestly do well to be obedient MOST of the time. How do we get from MOST to ALL? This is the question that has plagued mankind since the Garden of Eden. God's Word seems to be central in what it is we are to use as a 'guide' for our actions, but how is it that we actually get the Word of God to produce the right actions within us when our human nature wants something entirely different? If we look closely, maybe even read between the lines of these verses, we can probably begin to pick up it isn&

Are you one of those folks who need to "have it all together" in order to "do life"? I bet you  have been pretty disappointed with just how much you find yourself struggling to even get it together in the first place - let alone keeping it together! We constantly limit our potential whenever we think "perfection" is the goal and WE are the ones to actually accomplish this goal! My friends, perfection IS the goal (Christ), but WE are not the ones going to accomplish the goal (salvation and all the "clean up" that comes with it). All we can do is head toward it - Christ is actually the one beckoning us on and he will be the one who gets us over the finish line! I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is

“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.” (John 14:21 MSG) Some might think there are a whole lot of different gods in this world and they'd be correct in their assumption! There are a lot of 'different gods' in this world, all of them man-made gods. Even men who have risen to places of 'adored exaltation' are not really all that exalted. There are a few reasons why Christianity is different from every other world religion in which someone or something has been exalted as the god they worship. We observe the first difference in respect to 'how' one is able to be made 'righteous'. In all other world religions one must 'earn' their way to some placement or position. It is a system of 'works' to become more 'enlightened', 'fulfilled', or 'empowered'. As my pastor so aptly pu

"Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple."  (John C. Maxwell)  In which "camp" do you see yourself - as an educator or as a communicator? I grew up in the sixties and seventies, receiving most of schooling before the age of "common core" education dawned on the scene. Honestly, I think it is quite possible educators may have taken "simple math" and made it a whole lot harder than it needs to be!  My grandsons come home from school trying to figure out some problem today and I have to read a journal of articles on the internet to figure out why adding two numbers requires you splitting them apart, adding up their numbers separately, and reaching the same answer I always got when I learned to add the "old way". I have even met some educators today who say the new "common core" has made things way more complicated than they need to be, but they cannot

Religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a super human agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Now, that is a mouthful!  Yet, if I read it again and again, it really says nothing to me to define what Paul might have been thinking about when he reminded Timothy of the importance of "religion" as guiding one's life, keeping one on track, and giving purpose to all of life's actions. There is a closer definition which is also listed in the dictionary which really indicates "religion" as something which "alters" our way of living.  I think this is probably what Paul had in mind - a set of values and beliefs which alter our way of living - affecting choices repeatedly until they come into alignment with one believes.   As the saying goes, “Exercise

This life would be made a whole lot easier at times if Jesus just came right out and said, "Let me ask you something..." - wouldn't it?  We wouldn't have to ask if the little voice we hear "mulling things over" in our minds was just us or if it was his Spirit speaking with us.  We wouldn't have to ask, "Is that really you, Lord?"  We might just take steps forward with more confidence, step back when danger is imminent, and be so in tune with God's next steps that we never are out of touch with what he is doing.  There are probably more times when we are found asking if God is really speaking to us, if we can trust what we are hearing or sensing, and if this really applies to us in our present circumstances!  Why?  Maybe it is because our minds just have a hard time wrapping themselves around this idea of God talking with mortal man; or maybe we just don't quite "buy into" what he is saying and doing in our lives, so we stand

If you have a tendency to think you need to "have it all together" in order to "do life", you probably have been pretty disappointed with just how much you find yourself struggling to even get it together in the first place - let alone keeping it together!  We limit our potential whenever we think "perfection" is the goal and WE are the ones to actually accomplish this goal!  My friends, perfection IS the goal (Christ), but WE are not the ones going to accomplish the goal (salvation and all the "clean up" which comes with it). All we can do is head toward it - Christ is actually the one beckoning us on and he will be the one who gets us over the finish line!   I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God

Crowds have a way of pressing in on us, being a little unwieldy, and just plain rude, don't they?  Give people enough to "gawk" at and they will congregate quicker than ants on honey.  I call them "looky-loos" - they are they for the "show", not for much else.  They come to see, certainly not to participate. They come interested in what they might get, not in what they might give away.  What draws a crowd?  Isn't it the spectacular, the unexpected, and the unusual?  Jesus was all of these things.  Spectacular - dramatically daring as he went against the Pharisees and dared to challenge their "religious-ness". Unexpected - surprising those who least expected his touch or care with the deepest expressions of his love.  Unusual - shocking them with the extraordinary and the uncommon display of power, grace, and wisdom.  He was a crowd "gatherer", but he was also a crowd "divider".  The same things which drew many to him a

4-8 Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they've personally experienced the sheer goodness of God's Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can't start over as if nothing happened. That's impossible. Why, they've re-crucified Jesus! They've repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God's "Well done!" But if it produces weeds and thistles, it's more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested. (Hebrews 6:4-8) There are several passages in Hebrews that speak to us about "drifting" away from our position in Christ - some call this leaving the faith - still others call this backsliding.  The Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians - those who believed in C

37-39 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says." (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)    40-44 Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, "This has to be the Prophet." Others said, "He is the Messiah!" But others were saying, "The Messiah doesn't come from Galilee, does he? Don't the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David's line and from Bethlehem, David's village?" So there was a split in the crowd over him. (John 7:37-44) The crowds were growing as Jesus walked the streets with his disciples, healing the sick, setting bound free, and opening blind eyes.  Mor