The Plumbline

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of. (Charles Spurgeon) If you have wondered about the value of the present 'trial' you are enduring, you might just wrap your words around Spurgeon's thoughts today. They 'dig up the soil' of our lives - revealing to us exactly what we are made of. Sometimes we discover the soil is pretty much 'infertile' - rocky, hardened, and just plain 'uninhabitable'. At others we may find that soil to be easily turned, full of all that will give and bring life, and able to bear much fruit. Do you know something? It is the same soil! It is just that the latter has been 'worked' a little bit more by the hands of the one who knows exactly how to bring forth life and fruit from our lives. Dear ones, don’t be surprised when you experience your trial by fire. It is not something strange and unusual, but it is something you should rejoice in. (I Peter 3:12-13) I am looking at th...

There have been moments when I find what someone is telling me hard to believe. In those moments, it is not uncommon for the individual to tell me to "see for myself" when I am having trouble accepting what they are saying. Usually, in the 'looking', I find they aren't far from the truth, and even that they may be totally 'spot on' with what they are telling me! The looking was a moment of confirmation, not really of discovery, for what I discovered had already been revealed to me. I just needed a little confirmation to totally accept the truth. "Come along and see for yourself." (John 1:39) The inner circle of Jesus' closest disciples - the twelve who would become the those to follow in his footsteps, learn of his teachings, and be support in his times of trial. In looking at the call to become a disciple, they heard the words, "Come along and see for yourself." Jesus was not in the business of convincing men to follow him - leav...

13  “You can enter true life only through the narrow gate. The gate to hell is very wide, and there is plenty of room on the road that leads there. Many people go that way.   14  But the gate that opens the way to true life is narrow. And the road that leads there is hard to follow. Only a few people find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 ERV) It was the late C.S. Lewis who reminded us, "The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." The road doesn't need signposts because it is the easiest to follow! If you have ever had a roof leak, you know just how doggone difficult it can be to actually determine where that water is getting in. Why? The water takes the course of the least resistance and travels along until it finds a path of escape, often quite far removed from the initial point of entry. The road to hell is much like that - we realize our need for escape at a point, but it is ofte...