The Plumbline

We have been made right with God because of our faith. So we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.   Through our faith, Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are very happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory.    (Romans 5:1-2) Been made right - that is past-tense, my friends. We have right-standing with God ALREADY. In the day-to-day living we continue to do on this earth, God is still at work in our lives, not to change our 'standing' with him, but to help bring us out old patterns of living into the freshness and joy of living by the standards he proclaims over our lives. Sin is still at work around us - temptation still exists. Our 'standing' with God is good in spite of all the evil around us, attempting to pull us back into old patterns of living. If we trust in Jesus, having placed our faith in his 'finished work' within us, we are 'made right' and stand 'right' in God...

God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes. (Philippians 2:13)  When God enables us, he makes us able, giving us the power or ability, as well as the means by which to live holy and upright lives. Consider who is doing the enabling and we might just begin to see our course of action as different than what we might have originally believed it ever could be. On one hand, we work hard to obtain or realize a goal, without anyone really helping us realize that goal. On the other hand, when someone comes alongside, bringing talents we don't possess and apply those talents toward the end goal, we might just realize the project comes to fruition quicker and easier than if we struggled to do it alone. There is something about being enabled to do something which gives us a certain freedom or liberty to pursue it with a greater passion and purpose, isn't there? Imagine your spiritual goals. You should have some, you know! If you don't, the...

If you have ever hired a workman to come into your home or yard to fix up something, remodel, or landscape, you probably had some idea of what you wanted the finished project to resemble.  You had a plan and you asked the workman to follow the plan.  Even when I had new shingles put on the roof a few years back, I expected it to look a certain way when it was finished and it was expected to perform without leaking, holding up to the tough summer winds in Arizona, and providing my home with protection from the hot sun. I had windows replaced on this old home during the summer (don't ask me why I chose the hottest day of the year to do it).  I had seen the "demo" version of the windows, and could only imagine how they would appear once they were installed.  Since all of them were custom sizes (don't ask me why home builders do that to us unsuspecting buyers), they had to be carefully fitted to each opening.  Some fit like a jewel, others required a little "nudgin...

1-5  No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted.  But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness.  I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.  (Psalm 73:1-5) Have you ever found yourself in the place of envying those at the top?  We have a tendency to "elevate" some to levels of prominence in our society.  If they are educated and well-spoken, we find ourselves wondering why we cannot say things so eloquently.  If they are financially successful, we wonder how they got all the breaks.  If they are in a tremendous relationship with another individual, we find ourselves bemoaning that we are not.  Guess what?  Envy is more common than we might think! David is being pretty honest with us here in this passage.  He reminds us that ...

I run for dear life to God, I'll never live to regret it.  Do what you do so well:       get me out of this mess and up on my feet. Put your ear to the ground and listen, give me space for salvation.  Be a guest room where I can retreat;       you said your door was always open! You're my salvation—my vast, granite fortress.  (Psalm 71:1-3) One of the things that I find amazing in scripture is just how many times we have the idea of "running to", "seeking", "hiding within", etc., as we examine the various responses we have toward the safety of God.  We run to him - hoping to find the answers we need.  We seek him out - because we cannot possibly find any other source like him.  We hide within the shelter of his wing - knowing that our enemies cannot possibly overtake us when we are that close to his heart.  Our psalmist reminds us that we will never live to regret t...

6-7 Don't run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God's concerns, and he will take care of them. We've warned you about this before. God hasn't invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful—as beautiful on the inside as the outside. (I Thessalonians 4:6-7) There are times in our day-to-day "plodding" through life that we overlook the needs of others, show ourselves insensitive to their plight in life, or are just plain oblivious to the heartache of our neighbors because we are just way too caught up in our own lives.  Sometimes our "overlooking" of the other's need is not intentional, but a product of the "busy-ness" of our day that results in us not being very open to seeing what is creating huge pain for another.  There are other times, though, when we are quite aware that another is in pain and we simply don't want to invest the time, energy, or "he...