The Plumbline

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. (Joshua 1:8) We cannot neglect the Word of God and expect good things to happen in our lives. We need the intake of his Word for our spirit as much as we need food and water for our bodies. As Joshua was being 'commissioned' by God to take the Israelite nation into the Promised Land of Canaan, he gives him the instruction to STUDY his words CONTINUALLY. In other words, do more than a casual reading of them - let them soak into the very fibers of one's life until that life becomes affected by their intake. It is more of a mediation - to think deeply and frequently about what God has said. Whenever we allow the Word of God to be 'mulled over' in our minds, we are allowing it to be 'continually' studied. It helps us stay focused on what God is saying to us, and it often will 'ope...

I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word. (Psalm 119:15-16) There are some in society today who equate 'study' with 'debate'. The real meaning of 'study' in our passage is to apply - to make application of the truth one is reading and reciting. We may not realize it, but society's norms may not be God's norms. When we 'study' God's word in such a way as to apply it in our everyday living, we may find just how far society has drifted from God's commands. God asks us to examine, inspect, and investigate his word. We aren't just to read it, pick out the pieces we like, then discard the rest. Some call that 'cherry picking' the best from amongst the hardest. We aren't going to understand the entirety of God's word the first time we read it, so when we reject any portion that is too hard for us to understand completely, we are 'cherry picking...

We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place —until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:18-21) Sometimes we hear or read the same passage time and time again, thinking we already know what it says. The times we 'discount' what God has to say to us in any passage of scripture are times we miss out on God showing us afresh what he has to say, or somehow revealing something we might not have discerned when we were exposed to that same scripture earlier. Either way, we miss out. God's '...

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him... And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-8) Some of us expect everything on a silver platter. Others of us expect to work for everything we get in life. Somewhere in the middle are the re...

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) Benjamin Franklin said, "It is easier to prevent bad habits than it is to break them." Maybe this is why God encouraged his people to commit themselves to getting into God's Word every day. Recalling his Word on occasion is okay, but 'rehearsing' it until it gets inside of you and begins to affect what you are doing is much closer to what he commanded! Bad habits form a whole lot easier than good ones - at least, that is what I have observed in my own life. The good ones seem to be more difficult because of how I view them - as hard, requiring a 'whole lot of change'. If we didn't form them in the first place, the struggle wouldn't be there! The more we commit to making Go...

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-11) I'd like to think I am more than a weekend warrior - just attending church and then forgetting about the pursuit of God's best for my life the rest of the week. Sadly, there are far too many Christians who are weekend warriors. They attend church regularly, but their lives are kind of devoid of much in the way of 'substance' when it comes to study of the Word of God, time in prayer, or even looking after the needs of others as scripture reminds us of is so important. The Apostle Paul puts it very well - this is no weekend wa...