The Plumbline

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

"What were you thinking?", I said. Then I realized I wasn't thinking! It is necessary to set my understanding straight on occasion, or you allow the 'inner fool' to go on thinking that thinking was "spot on". What happens when we don't respond to the foolishness? We allow a plethora of other stuff to continue on as though it did not matter. The inner fool looks for validation - when it doesn't find resistance to its actions, it takes this as validation. It is difficult to stop, take the effort and extreme amount of patience to speak with the fool around you, but sometimes it is harder to speak to the one within you! Yet, it is the very best course of action to prevent a flood of ill-effects from that 'inner' folly. Answer a fool in simple terms so he doesn’t get a swelled head. (Proverbs 26:5) We use simple terms to speak to the simpleton. No fool (even our inner fool) is responsive to some lengthy theological argument - the simplici