The Plumbline

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. (Psalm 143:10)  I am one who needs a lot of 'teaching' when it comes to doing God's will. Make no bones about it - we choose our own way over God's way and then find ourselves working our way back to the way he asked us to go anyway, so why do we do it? When we stop to consider how 'hard' it seems to find and walk in God's will at times, we might just have to admit how insanely hard it is to walk our way back into his will once we have decided to go our own way! That 'hardness' in choosing righteousness isn't by accident - it might just show how 'willing' we are to put God first in our lives, even when it isn't the easiest thing to do! It may not seem like it at first, but those who choose to rebel against the will of God will endure a hard ending. We might think they are enjoying life now, but I don't suspect they will enjoy

I think it was Norman Vincent Peale who reminded us it is always too soon to quit. There are a lot of things we chase after in life, sometimes quitting just short of ever achieving whatever it is we are chasing after. We chase after a lot of things in life, but I have come to the conclusion not all of them are really worth chasing. Sometimes we chase stuff which brings us grief and disappointment - not exactly the best outcome, huh? This chasin g is a part of a much deeper issue - we lack satisfaction or contentment, so we 'chase' and 'chase' and 'chase'. Contentment is a state of being "at ease" in our mind, soul, and spirit. We don't need activity because we are already at rest. Sometimes ceasing is the best remedy to chasing! Satisfaction really is that deeper sense of being grateful - fulfilled in what we have and who we are. Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you.

Undeterred - not able to be restrained from action. Wouldn't most of us like to say our walk with Jesus is rather "undeterred" - there is nothing that distracts us, keeps us from moving forward, or discourages us in our pursuit of right-living? Truth be told, there are a whole lot of things that 'deter' us each and every day - most of which we have total control over! The commission given to the disciples was to "go", followed closely by "train". Both are significant action words - one suggesting we don't remain stagnant, firmly planted somewhere, not moving - while the other signifies a specific course of action. My BFF is bilingual and she often attempts to help me gain a little bit of conversational Spanish along the way. My Spanish is helpless! It is as though my mind has a barrier to retaining this stuff! She aptly points out that I have no problem learning something new when it comes to Excel database writing, so why do I have a road

"Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."  (Winston Churchill) 2  They will help you learn to be wise, to accept correction, and to understand wise sayings.   3  They will teach you to develop your mind in the right way. You will learn to do what is right and to be honest and fair. 4  These proverbs will make even those without education smart. They will teach young people what they need to know and how to use what they have learned. (Proverbs 1:2-4 ERV) I am like Churchill - love learning, but sometimes kind of slow in the "being taught" realm! The stuff we are the slowest to learn can become the biggest and most rewarding lessons of our lives, though. As we look back over some of those lessons, we might find ourselves amazed at how God so faithfully kept teaching until we finally realized the truth he wanted us to see. It may just be the truth he wanted us to see was the ugliness of some sin in our lives - these

I saw a quote once that remarked about our parents having taught us everything we know. The problem stipulated in the quote was that those same parents didn't teach us everything THEY knew! This is so true of parenting - we teach our kids and teach them again - only to realize somewhere down the road we haven't remembered to teach them something we learned at some earlier point in our lives. As a grandparent, one of the advantages I have is that of being "quieter" in my living - able to observe with a power of insight I didn't take the time to stop to share when I was younger. As a parent, I was busy, busy, busy - especially since I was doing this alone! Now that I am a grandparent, it is as though I can just enjoy the time I have with the grandchildren without having all those external factors weighing in on me - at least most of the time! Teach a child how to follow the right way; even when he is old, he will stay on course. (Proverbs 22:6 VOICE) I used

It is all out war against sin in our lives.  Nothing short of describing this as a prolonged conflict will do!  In the midst of the battle, we can sometimes lose perspective of the small victories which have already occurred.  When we do, we get down on ourselves for still being engaged in the entire warfare situation.  Truth is, until we leave this earth, we will be engaged in this battle!  We just have to learn to be good warriors, entering into the victories we experience, and learning to step forward into the next.  No victory is without some form of struggle or conflict - it is just part of life.  Even finding a good deal on some purchase we may be wanting to make takes some effort on our part.  Even if all we do is surf the net to find the best deal on the item, there is some effort expended on our part which brings us the "victorious" moment of getting it for the price we hoped to pay.  So it is with the things in this life we hope to experience in our spiritual, emot