The Plumbline

Ever had one of those moments when you know something and no one else in the group does? You are almost chatting at the bit to get an opportunity to share it with someone, but perhaps you have been sworn to secrecy and cannot share it. The information you possess is almost too big to be contained. I think this is the way it is with what God gives us - it is almost too big for us to contain it! It leaves us feeling like we'd have to share it, or we'd burst.  Imagine heading off to the market one day in search of a new lamp for your home. Anticipation mounts, for you have a particular mission in mind. Exploration of shelf upon shelf, for there are many lamps from which to choose. Choosing just the right one, expectation begins to build for you can imagine the light it will bring to your home. Then at last, you have the joy of experience - for the light shed illuminates all you could not see otherwise. If we have such an experience in seeking, obtaining, and experiencing the...

Stingy:  Reluctant to give or spend; not truthfully generous; meanly or ungenerously small or scanty.  There are all kinds of "givers" in this world - some give with a genuine heart; others give with strings attached; still others put on the show of giving, but their heart is definitely not in it.  Scripture tells us God loves a cheerful giver - one who has learned to give without strings attached and from a genuine desire to meet the needs of another or to share the blessings of one's own life so another may be blessed.  As Solomon lays out these principles for living which are designed to give us a good foundation for our lives, he spends a little more time reminding us about the attitude of heart we are to exhibit.  He seems to focus a great deal on this idea of "genuineness" or "truthfulness".  Maybe this is because the degree of truthfulness we have in our daily dealings with others is comparable to how well we are being truthful in our relations...