The Plumbline

Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. (Oscar Wilde) I enjoy following your rules as much as others enjoy great riches. (Psalm 119:14) Some will follow every scheme known to man, or create a new one, in order to obtain some form of 'riches', but they seldom last, nor do they bring the ultimate pleasure one believed possible. We can measure 'wealth' in various ways, but if we seek 'wealth' in forms that take us away from following God with all our hearts, then the 'wealth' we seek is flawed. God's riches oftentimes cannot be measured in terms society really understands. "There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men." (Billy Graham) While I agree with Graham, I would add that there are riches that can 'possess a man' that are really not wrong for mankind. Those riches are measured in how well the Word of...

Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns.” ...who will get those things you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15, 20-21) Do we own it, or does it own us? It is sometimes hard to decide which one actually is the truth, but a sure way to find out is how we react when it is taken from us. Remember Job? He had riches galore, a large family, lots and lots of herds of animals, crops in abundance - in essence, he had it all. He was a good man, known in the community to be faithful to his family, considerate of others, a good friend. Then one day, it was taken from him. He lost the crops, herds began to die, family members were lost, and he found himself sitting on a hill of dung, scraping boils on his body with a broken shard of pottery. If you or I were to face similar circumstances today, how might we react? It took so...

Life Hack #7: Riches are elusive - especially when we are pursuing them. Riches seldom fall into our laps, delivered on a silver platter, all nice and neat. We have to pursue, labor, direct our focus, and spend a whole lot of time going after them. Riches are not "prohibited" or "bad" for a Christian, but they are not the end-all - the main pursuit in life. We need to discover where our true riches are and how they are obtained, maintained, and continually refreshed. Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself! Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder. (Proverbs 23:4-5) Our true riches are not the "things" or "bank balance" we attain, but the richness of God's grace, love, and purpose in our lives. What we often find ourselves doing is pursuing what we "think" will make us happy in some sense, rather than accepting what we can "count on" ...

Although the mass hysteria to purchase truckloads of toilet paper has died down, there is still a significant shortage of the stuff we need on the grocer's shelves. The truckloads of goods come and go, but there still doesn't seem to be a restock of all that once existed on the shelves. I have observed more and more posts telling us how to 'make yeast' from various household items because it is scarce in the markets. We see posts proclaiming new ways to create hand sanitizer from aloe and isoprophyl alcohol; kitchen wipes using a half roll of paper towels submerged in a small amount of bleach and water solution; or even the re-emergence of the use of hydrogen peroxide to sanitize items. As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Some are more than 'well-stocked', having amassed a great deal of resources for their 'quarantined existence', while others are still frequenting the stores at the earliest time possible in hopes of obt...

When I was a young adult, one of the shows gaining popularity was this show which featured lots and lots of well-to-do people and how they lived.  It was called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", featuring Robin Leach "showing off" the homes of those who enjoyed what some considered an "elite" lifestyle. Ball players from major leagues, actors and actresses, and a myriad of other rather insanely rich people had opulent homes and properties which made eyes pop and people dream about what it would be like to live with such luxury.  It must have hit the mark for many a TV viewer as the series ran for 11 years!  One home caught my attention more than any of the others.  It was the one Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lived in located in Beverly Hills, California.  Why?  I think it was the simplicity of their lifestyle in a region where "magnitude", "frills", and "effect" were all the rage.  Their home looked like a "regular...

The scriptures are full of conundrums - those "life riddles" which get us to thinking a little bit, but almost seem "counter-intuitive".  It is this idea of "getting us to thinking" which I believe God might just have in mind, for all action begins in thought and all thought has one of two outcomes - good or bad.  When the thing presented is "counter-intuitive" it can be a little hard to understand.  If you have studied the New Testament, you will likely remember a wealthy Jewish man coming to Jesus one day and asking Jesus what he must do have eternal life.  Jesus responds with somewhat of a conundrum to this young ruler.  He references the goodness of God and tells the young man he must keep God's commandments.  That is all well and good, but the rich young ruler wants to know "which ones" he must obey.  Isn't that just like us?  We hear "keep his commandments" and we want to know where there is "wiggle room...

Christopher Columbus once said, "Riches don't make a man rich, they only make him busier."  Maybe there is more to this little bit of wisdom than first meets the eye!  The writer of Ecclesiastes said it this way:   If you have to work hard for a living, you can rest well at night, even if you don’t have much to eat. But if you are rich, you can’t even sleep . (5:12 CEV).  The riches we amass are both material and immaterial, but the ones which seem to give us the greatest of concern are the material.  They require so much of our attention and the last "big thing" we managed to get is almost outdated or not as useful or as good within just a short time of attaining it.  I could spend a great deal of time lamenting the many purchases I have bought over the years only to share how disappointing they were because they didn't perform "as seen on TV" or they simply were outdated within just a short time of getting them.  The this which never goes out of...

Riches are elusive - especially when we are pursuing them.  Riches seldom fall into our laps, delivered on a silver platter, all nice and neat.  Instead, we have to pursue, labor, direct our focus, and spend a whole lot of time going after them.  Now, don't get me wrong - I don't want to live in a cardboard box, but if we just begin to consider this a little, we might just get a little insight into our seventh principle for living with a solid foundation in life.  Riches are not "prohibited" or "bad" for a Christian, but they are not the end-all!  I think our purpose today is to discover where our true riches are and how they are obtained, maintained, and continually refreshed.   Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;  restrain yourself!   Riches disappear in the blink of an eye;  wealth sprouts wings  and flies off into the wild blue yonder.  (Proverbs 23:4-5 MSG) To be certain, our riches are really not the things or...