The Plumbline

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. (I John 2:3-6) Yesterday we explored the story of the rich young ruler who thought he did well with keeping all the commandments and hoped for eternal life to be granted to him as a result. While he did a 'good job' at living by the rules, he missed the one biggest one that said he should worship no other god. You see, his money became his god - he had a hard time when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor amongst them. Today, we look at the 'measure' of one who obeys God's commandments to the fullest - they follow the example of love that Christ modeled for them while he walked t...

As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor. A wise person chooses the right road; a fool takes the wrong one. You can identify fools just by the way they walk down the street! (Ecclesiastes 10:1-3) If you ever wondered about some of your decisions in life, you are not alone. I have built stuff, then looked at it a few years later wondering why I put it there or how come the materials haven't held up to the elements. I have said I'd do something, not really thinking through the demand it would place on my body or the time it would take. We all make those 'snap decisions', wondering desperately why we made THAT choice instead of the other. The hope is that we make wise ones, but truth be told, we ALL make some pretty foolish ones on occasion. What we do with that 'not very wise' choice is important. We can flounder around, looking for ways to escape the foolishness of it all, or we can simply go alo...

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.  (C.S. Lewis) God says, “Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.” The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. (Isaiah 57:14-15) Rebuild the road. We 'rebuild' by clearing away the rocks and stones. Whatever clutters our way, left as hindrances in our path, rubble from wrong decisions - all must go. The need for repentance merely means we have chosen the wrong road, progress has been difficult, if not impossible, and now we see there is a need to turn around from the path we had taken. Sin always leaves debris in it...

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention. (John Burroughs) Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. (Romans 6:12-14) Do not let - those three words probably go unnoticed, but they carry such a significant meaning. So many times, we excuse sin in our lives because we say we 'could not help it' or that it 'just took me by surprise'. The moment of temptation is not unnoticed - it is undenied! We LET sin have its way - we give it access. The way we choose to live today will influence how we live tomorrow. The more we LET things into our thoughts...

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and guilt And cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:1-2) You may not realize the act of mercy as much as you do the 'feeling' of mercy. God extends his mercy to us whenever we seek it, all the while 'feeling' the tremendous load of guilt lifting as he does. We are remorseful and kind of 'down' on ourselves because we gave into temptation. We 'feel' guilt because it is actually an emotion that begins to dominate our thoughts and other emotions whenever we find ourselves 'crossing some line' that our subconscious mind told us not to cross. The desire we entertained gave way to an unwarranted or unwanted action and now we are 'feeling' it. It only stands to reason that God's mercy would elicit the exact opposite reaction as our guilt did, doesn't it? Mercy is God's ...

As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30) Have you ever wondered why you don't resist temptation on occasion? You were sailing along just fine, and then out of nowhere came this thought. That thought began to consume your other thoughts until it finally began to stimulate the formation of an action. Before you knew it, along came the full-fledged response to the temptation and it wasn't resistance! Just like that, you 'indulged' yourself in the sin you tried to resist for so long. How does this happen? It is usually because we take ourselves out of the refuge we find in Jesus. As long as we are safe in that refuge, we resist just fine. Step outside of those boundaries just a bit and the temptation can overwhelm to the point of full compromise. His refuge? It begins with his Word. If you haven't figured it out by now, you can actually use his Word to combat many of those initial thoughts and kee...

“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 34:6-7) As God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, he also gave him this message. I have frequently been asked what it means when God says he will "lay the sins of the parents upon their children...", to the third and fourth generations. Does that mean God will make four generations 'pay for' the sins of their forefathers? Not exactly. It does mean that what one generation 'tolerates' or 'accepts as okay' that is clearly outside of what God commands would result in future generations accepting and engaging in actions even worse. Thus, it results in the '...

It was Barack Obama who said, "We are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too." Confucious said, "The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home." We must never forget that nation after nation has fallen, only to be replaced by another who comes after, making those who remain 'foreigners' in that nation. What makes a nation great? If we trust what God says to us, it is the pursuit of all manner of good and the trust in his ways.  Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34) William Penn reminds us, "True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it." Mending fences has always been part of God's economy. He trusts us to seek out godly practices, replicating them in our homes, and then changing our communities through those godly actions. It is what truly will make any nation great...

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. (Ephesians 1:3-6) There are times when we 'judge' someone over and over again, all because they have a whole bunch of 'do-overs' in their lives. We point out how many times they slip and fall, but God sees only the returns! He is celebrating each and every 'do-over' because he knows that individual is not content to backslide, nor are they content to just 'abide' where they are - they want to change. It is hard to change, and he knows...

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2) Ever made a really dumb decision? I know I can list a few, perhaps even more than a few. We all make mistakes sometimes, some 'dumber' than others, with some standing out as the 'dumbest' of the 'dumb'. These probably have led to some pretty deep hurts - hurts that seem to hang around long after the decision was made and done. What do we do with the deep hurts that are part of our past mistakes? We can repent, 'turn a new leaf', and move on, or we can harbor those hurts, rehashing the guilt of those decisions over and over again.  When the hurts of the past aren't in the past, we find the rehearsal of those hurts to sometimes be worse than the original 'misstep' was in the first place. God wants to do a work within us...

Do you 'toy with' temptation? If you act carelessly when it comes to the things that tempt you, kind of ignoring them, and then find yourself 'playing with' the thing that is tempting you, you are probably not resisting temptation very well. It is meant to be resisted, not ignored or toyed with at all.  The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. (I Corinthians 10:13) Temptation comes in all forms. It can be something from 'without' such as cookies in the cookie jar 'calling' for you to eat them when you are trying to watch your weight. It can be from 'another' such as when a coworker wants to share some juicy gossip over lunch about your boss. It could even be from 'within' such as when you are feeling down on yourself and overspend on the online stor...

If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. (Galatians 6:1) I think this should probably read 'when', not 'if', because all of us will eventually find ourselves needing forgiveness and restoration, no matter how hard we try to live according to the principles of grace, goodness, and kindness. We all slip up in weak moments, saying or doing something we later regret. When that happens, do we judge one another, holding onto those judgments and allowing bitterness to form deep within our heart? Do we lovingly restore one another, without judging the actions of the other, not giving place to bitterness and anger? Easier said than done, huh? We might want to remember that what we criticize the most in ot...

H.G. Wells said, "If you fell down yesterday, stand up today." Those words may seem rather simple, as we all know the 'action' of 'standing up' once you have fallen down is a little more difficult than we might imagine. I have fallen more than a couple of times in my lifetime, banging up my knees or elbows, but when I was younger, I bounced back from those falls a whole lot quicker than I do in my sixth decade of life! Just because we are 'growing up in Christ' doesn't mean we won't fall, and it certainly doesn't mean a fall will result in us getting up 'easier' just because we 'know Jesus' a little better than we did in our earlier years of following him. Sometimes we just need to cry out for help to get up! It isn't a bad thing to admit we need help, although some may think it is a sign of weakness to admit it.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t b...

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8) Tricked, deceived, deluded, fooled, misguided - regardless of the word we use, the meaning is all the same. When we are 'misled' down any path, we reveal quite foolish choices that lead to very foolish actions. We cannot plant one seed and expect a different harvest. Seeds bear the fruit they were created to bear - period! Ignore God's wisdom to avoid such paths that lead to sinful actions, and we will reap the consequences of those actions. Can a man really claim to be 'ignorant' of his choices? He may be 'uneducated' or 'uninformed', but even those 'excuses' a...

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing. (Philippians 2:14-16) Do everything readily - just how well are we doing on that one today? I know that I drag my feet when it comes to things around the house that really could use my attention, like the high-low dusting. As long as the surfaces look reasonably 'clean', I can let it go until the dust bunnies start creeping out as you walk past their hiding places! My BFF quips that we are 'dust bunny friendly', but every now and again, we have to eliminate the 'herd' of bunnies, but somehow our inattentiveness to getting all of them al...

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error. (Voltaire) People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Blessed are those who fear to do wrong, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble. (Proverbs 28:13-14) Voltaire also reminded us that "God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well." How well are we living today? Some will say their life is 'pretty good', others will remark that 'it could be better'. Either way, we still have room for improvement no matter how long we live. We can never 'outlive' doing right any more than we can outlive doing wrong! We need to be honest with ourselves when we don't live up to what God desires of us and confess that we need his help to 'do better'. Mankind has always made haste to get into trouble. What we need is God's help to make haste to move away from sin...

My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He always did what was right, so he is able to defend us before God the Father. Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And he is the way all people can have their sins taken away too. If we obey what God has told us to do, then we are sure that we know him. If we say we know God but do not obey his commands, we are lying. The truth is not in us. But when we obey God’s teaching, his love is truly working in us. This is how we know that we are living in him. (I John 2:1-5) A long time ago, I had a pastor who told us it was okay to substitute our own names into scripture. For example, I could read this passage as, "My dear Lauretta, I write this letter to you...", making it come alive to me personally. When I began to realize scripture was written for ME, I began to find it both comforting and a little convicting. At times, it opened up doors for my hea...

We speak often about compromise - making subtle 'adjustments' in the way we see things in order to either justify what we are doing or to convince ourselves that the rules God has laid out for us are old fashioned and outdated. The concessions we make in life may eventually be our undoing. We may not see that now, but at the end of every concession is another one. Compromise doesn't take us from 100% loyal to God's 'rules' to being 100% disloyal to them in one step. It is a build-up of steps, tiny ones at first, leading to bigger ones the further we move away from the 'rule'. “In the last times there will be people who laugh at God and do only what they want to do—things that are against God.” These are the people who divide you. They are not spiritual, because they don’t have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up even stronger. Pray with the help of the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves safe in God’s love, as you ...

Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit should go to the one who is sinning. Help make that person right again, and do it in a gentle way. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin too. Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you are obeying the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to do this, you are only fooling yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours. (Galatians 6:1-5) Have you ever tried to 'nag' someone into obedience? It doesn't work well, does it? In the long run, one or both of you will come to have ill feelings toward the other. Nagging doesn't change behavior - it might even intensify it as the other seeks to magnify the 'annoyance' the disobedience brings you! We all do things we shouldn't do from time to time -...

The moment we begin to justify sin in our lives is the moment we need most to turn back to what God says about each of us. We were born to do wrong - sinners even before we left our mother's womb. Born with the 'birthright' to sin. We aren't born without a will, but rather with a will that is oftentimes opposed to the will of our Creator. As we begin to develop, we use that 'will' to get what we want. As I have said in the past, we don't need to be told to be selfish, self-centered, or self-directed. It comes quite naturally to want all the toys, attention, and permission to do whatever we want! I was born to do wrong, a sinner before I left my mother’s womb. You want me to be completely loyal, so put true wisdom deep inside of me. Remove my sin and make me pure. Wash me until I am whiter than snow! (Psalm 51:5-7) If we have this 'birthright' of being born sinners, how do we overcome sin? There has to be an exchange of nature - our nature for...