The Plumbline

Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NLT) Since we believe - prior to our point of believing in Christ as our Savior, we merely saw him from a human point of view. We interpreted everything in scripture from a human point of view. We saw nothing divine in him, nor did we really understand why the commandments given to us in scripture could actually be for our benefit and blessing.  When we see God's Words from a merely human point of view, the things G...

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. (Ephesians 4:2-4) A moment of confession here - I am not always humble - my pride gets in the way a lot of times. I am not always gentle - my desire to be first, be right, be whatever brings out some of the harshness of my human nature. Am I always patient? Nope, I don't have that one down either! Do I see your faults and just want to roll my eyes? Sometimes - until I look in the mirror and see my own! Then I just hush-up and hope you haven't noticed I have the same faults.  Living together in peace is the goal - but all this 'human' stuff gets in the way at times, doesn't it? We waste a whole lot of time arguing over things that won't matter a...