The Plumbline

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.  (Vernon Law) 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) Have you ever noticed that we learn best from repeated lessons? We learned our multiplication tables by repeating them one by one, over and over again. We learned to drive our roadways, park a car, and navigate on/off highways by obtaining a permit to drive, instruction in how to maneuver the vehicle, and then practicing over and over again. Lessons repeated are seldom forgotten. They become a part of our 'memory' and are easily put into practice. Our teachers used to give us something called a 'pretest' to see how much you knew BEFORE they taught the lesson. If you actually proved to be proficien...

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (I Corinthians 10:13) We should find a little reassurance in knowing the present temptation or trial we face is not dissimilar to what others have faced and survived. It may not be identical, but it could have been attempting to uncover similar issues within our character, just in a slightly different manner. The trial or temptation you face is meant to bring about one of two things: 1) bring out something within your character that needs to change; or 2) create something within your character that bolsters what is already there. God is either trying to rid us of something or allow something of greater depth to be produced within. Either way, we aren't to avoid these as much as allow them to draw us closer to where God desires us...

But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food. (Job 23:10-12) There are probably more times when you don't know exactly where your life is headed than there are the times you are 100% certain where everything will work out as planned. The good news is that God knows where we are headed, and he has prepared the path we walk upon. Stay on the path and you will come out the other side of this present journey tried and true. Following God's ways in the midst of 'not knowing' is harder than it sounds. We want certainty, but God isn't always going to show us the end from the beginning. We just need to stay the course and trust him even when it doesn't seem like 'all is well'. Job didn't have a great perspective from the top of a dung pile, but...

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-3) Is anyone else like me, trying to get out of something a bit 'prematurely' because they are harder than you expected when you went into it? Trust me on this one, you and I will just find the next challenge a bit harder, so we might as well buckle down and finish this one! There is something that is 'required' of us and we need to see it through, or else face the next 'something' in order to do it all over again. What is required? I don't know what your particular 'challenge' is right now, but whatever it is, God has a plan in it. That may seem a little hard for some to swallow, especially when the issue at hand seems kind...

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (I Corinthians 10:13) Pay close attention to the words here - nowhere in scripture does it ever say a Christian will be 'problem-free' in life, nor that temptation and testing will somehow just magically never come our way. In fact, it promises there will be both testing and temptation - trials of our faith; testing of our conviction and dedication. What is promised is that God will ALWAYS be right there to help us come THROUGH it. He never leaves us defenseless - he expects us to set up good defenses BEFORE we have to go THROUGH them! All of us have to face trials and temptations - there is no way to escape the fact they will come our way. If we prepare AHEAD of time, going THROUGH them with Christ at our side will mean we s...

How good of a test-taker are you? I have met individuals who really struggle with this one because as soon as they get that exam in front of them they kind of 'clam up' and shut down. They just cannot focus and their efforts toward studying / preparing for the exam all go out the window. They are frozen in time. They have an anxiety moment that initiates the 'shut-down' and then they cannot seem to 'reboot' to get back on track. The testing challenges of life can sometimes put us into a mode where we find it hard to 'reboot' and get back on track again, right? There are just some challenges we don't imagine we will ever make it through, but let me assure you of this - you are prepared more than you will ever know! Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. ( James 1:12 MSG ) Let's face it - testing is hard - even a b...

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. ( James 1:2-3   MSG ) What tests have you done rather well on recently? What challenges came at you that you just faced head on and mastered without even looking back? We remember and rehearse the ones we failed, or that did us in, right? Do we do a good enough job celebrating the ones we "pass"? It is likely we rehearse the failures way more than we celebrate the successes. Why? We aren't satisfied with the outcome! We want to see that altered in some way when that challenge is faced the next time - we want to get a much better "grade" on the test! You know me...I had to look up the difference between these two words because I didn't rea...

“But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside." ( Job 23:10-11   NLT ) When we are in the thick of things, we probably don't even think God knows what direction we are headed! The chaos of the issues bombarding us on all sides just leaving us with questions, uncertain outcomes, and decisions too numerous for us to even think about some days. We just cannot possibly imagine any other "disaster" that can come our ways, only to be broad-sided by something totally unexpected. Could it just be WE don't know where we are going at the moment, but that God has all things perfectly orchestrated and the outcomes already well under his control? The key isn't that we know the destination, it is that we stay on course. To be totally transparent here, there have been more than a few times that if God had showed me clearly where it was I was headed ...

There are times when God just want to hear from us that we desire him to be close enough to us to actually "feel" his presence - almost like we feel the breath of one so close to us that their every exhale is sensed.  This desire of our hearts sparks something within God's heart which almost demands his immediate response - simply because when our hearts are so eager to connect with him, he cannot help but respond!  Word pictures abound in scripture - allowing us to somehow connect the thought of the words with actual actions we understand.  I think God does this because we need "pictures" - they help to speak into our lives what otherwise would just be words.  I know it is much easier to assemble something when I have both the illustration and the words.  The words alone could get me to the finished product - but those photos or illustrations "speak" to me about how to get it done in a way the words just could not.  Since God knows us so well, it mak...

If you have never read the account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness just before he launches out into his "public" ministry, it is worth a read.  As the Devil tempts Jesus, he puts him through three tests - one aimed at his physical hunger with the intention of getting Jesus to satisfy his needs on his own; a second aimed at getting him to jump off a high place and presuming upon the grace of God to catch him before he fell to the ground; and a third aimed at getting Jesus to "save the world" without really having to go to the cross by accepting an alternative to God's divine plan.  After all three of these temptations, we find the words, "That completed the testing."  Lest we think the Devil is all done with us when we don't give into one or more tests, remember the rest of the passage - he retreated TEMPORARILY.  His "retreat" is always only temporary at best.  He actually is looking for the next opportunity to interject himself ...

Some of the stories in the Bible are what we refer to as parables - they might tell one thing (having a "surface meaning"), but when you ponder them in the light of the day in which they were taught, you find a much deeper meaning to the story.  If you read the first sixteen verses Luke 16, you are treated to a story about what appears to be instructions in business dealings, or on how to be shrewd in our dealings with financial matters. As the story unfolds, we begin to see a manager taking advantage of his position - he just hoped the boss wouldn't notice!  In today's vernacular, we'd probably liken what he did to "padding his expenses" on the corporate expense account.  It works for a while, but when an audit of the books is called for, his actions are uncovered. I guess you won't be surprised to learn he loses his job - but it doesn't stop him from being as shrewd as he had been in his previous position. In fact, he begins an entirely new ven...

Ever fail a test?  You know, you think you have "studied" hard enough to make your brain actually leak forth the right stuff in just the right moment - then almost without recognizing the turning point, you "slip" in what you "leaked" and down you go!  Yep, been there, done that, bought the shirt, and wore it out!  The truth is, we all fail - sometimes more miserably than others, but we fail nonetheless.  It may be in some commitment we have made such as determining to eat right, or some "trigger" we just didn't want to respond to in quite the same way the next time we were faced with it.  This week was one of those weeks for me.  The "trigger" came and there came my response - not the grace-filled one I would have like to respond with, but the adrenaline kicked into full gear and there I was facing the same old stuff.  The truth be told - I didn't go as far in my negative response to the trigger - for I held back the words I wo...

Battered:  to beat persistently and hard; pound repeatedly; to deal heavy, repeated blows; to damage or injure as by blows, heavy wear. God ’s a safe-house for the battered,  a sanctuary during bad times.  The moment you arrive, you relax;   you’re never sorry you knocked. (Psalm 9:9-10 MSG) There are times in our lives when we just seem to feel a little "battered" by the various things which impact us - things out of our control, some brought on just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time - others brought on because we deliberately put ourselves in the place where we'd feel these repeated blows.  The present "battering" many of my friends are taking are definitely not by their own doing - they are being battered by disease, the unknown of resistant growths in tiny bodies, and the uncontrolled actions of internal processes gone wild in bodies plagued with disease.  In these moments, the repeated blows seem to deal a very "heavy" and "da...

Have you ever used the "skill" of answering a question with another question?  In some circles, such as counseling, this is a common occurrence - the questions asked are designed to get the person to consider the answer themselves and to begin to problem solve through the situation.  There are times when the most appropriate answer is another question.  For example, when a child asks you why they have to eat their vegetables, do you think answering, "Because I told you to", is the best answer?  Answer in this way, and the child will allow those veggies to just grow cold on the plate.  Yet, if the parent tried a different tact, such as saying, "Johnnie, what do you think is the reason you should eat your vegetables?", I wonder what they might receive.  Perhaps you'd hear the response, "Because if I don't, I will never get to watch TV this evening."  If the parent hears this, what is it Johnnie is saying?  He is equating doing something ver...