The Plumbline

Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. (Oscar Wilde) I enjoy following your rules as much as others enjoy great riches. (Psalm 119:14) Some will follow every scheme known to man, or create a new one, in order to obtain some form of 'riches', but they seldom last, nor do they bring the ultimate pleasure one believed possible. We can measure 'wealth' in various ways, but if we seek 'wealth' in forms that take us away from following God with all our hearts, then the 'wealth' we seek is flawed. God's riches oftentimes cannot be measured in terms society really understands. "There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men." (Billy Graham) While I agree with Graham, I would add that there are riches that can 'possess a man' that are really not wrong for mankind. Those riches are measured in how well the Word of...

Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life. (Proverbs 10:2) I found myself revisiting an old medical TV series over the past few days where more than one of the characters were quite entangled in 'making money', sometimes at the expense of others. As depicted by their characters, their absolute greed drove them to do things that were totally outside of the reason they ever got into their profession as doctors. They were so focused on fame and fortune; they lost sight of their calling. Wealth sometimes has a way of 'undoing' us - actually changing our focus from what we know to be 'true' and 'right' in our lives. Perhaps this is why God reminds us we cannot have our eyes on both wealth and God - the former one will eventually erode away at the relationship we have with him. Tainted wealth is that which is 'ill-gotten' - it might have started out quite innocently, but the more we pursued the wealth, the more it consume...

Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11) I don't think there is anyone who wants to look back on their life only to realize the majority of the activity they performed was merely to 'make money'. The average wage-earner in the United States holds about 12 jobs in their lifetime, spending about 4.5 years per job, meaning we work about fifty years or so. If all that work is without any rest, the body, mind, and soul of a man is taxed by the end! Too much rest makes for a different outcome - we might even be labeled as a little 'lazy' and 'foolish'. The balance comes somewhere in the middle, but it should never be to the detriment of our relationships - including our relationship with God! True happiness is kind of an elusive thing for ma...

“Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ “ Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. ” (Luke 12:13-21) We can all be so 'into ourselves' that we totally miss being there to help another when they are stand...

Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns.” ...who will get those things you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15, 20-21) Do we own it, or does it own us? It is sometimes hard to decide which one actually is the truth, but a sure way to find out is how we react when it is taken from us. Remember Job? He had riches galore, a large family, lots and lots of herds of animals, crops in abundance - in essence, he had it all. He was a good man, known in the community to be faithful to his family, considerate of others, a good friend. Then one day, it was taken from him. He lost the crops, herds began to die, family members were lost, and he found himself sitting on a hill of dung, scraping boils on his body with a broken shard of pottery. If you or I were to face similar circumstances today, how might we react? It took so...

Since we came into this world, we have had not had to tell ourselves to demand or seek out the things we want, but rather we have had to learn how to deal with all the things we want to figure out if we really need it. We might have come face-to-face with the reality that food was a necessity, but the black patent leather shoes weren't; the school clothes were, but the frilly dresses and designer jeans weren't; the reliable means of transportation was a necessity, but the shiny new car every other year was not.  We will often struggle with trying to decipher the difference between need and want throughout life - simply because the circumstances change and we are called upon to change with them.  In time, we can become a little confused between the two, especially when we aren't aware of this nasty little thing called "greed".  It rears its ugly head more often than we'd like to admit and we struggle with this thing called "contentment" more often tha...

Life Hack #7: Riches are elusive - especially when we are pursuing them. Riches seldom fall into our laps, delivered on a silver platter, all nice and neat. We have to pursue, labor, direct our focus, and spend a whole lot of time going after them. Riches are not "prohibited" or "bad" for a Christian, but they are not the end-all - the main pursuit in life. We need to discover where our true riches are and how they are obtained, maintained, and continually refreshed. Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself! Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder. (Proverbs 23:4-5) Our true riches are not the "things" or "bank balance" we attain, but the richness of God's grace, love, and purpose in our lives. What we often find ourselves doing is pursuing what we "think" will make us happy in some sense, rather than accepting what we can "count on" ...

Life Hack #3: Forbes magazine published an article November 28, 2012, entitled "Why Winning Powerball Won't Make You Happy" written by Susan Adams. Citing multiple studies which point out the IMMEDIATE high or exuberance of winning, but then focus on the quick return to a low point within just a short point in time, she concludes: "While winning the lottery can make a difference, it won't affect the other conditions of your life". We can "bet" on the one-time windfall, or we can count on the certainty of what God provides with consistency. The choice seems pretty simple to me, but obviously there are a whole lot of others who actually don't believe this! Don’t gamble on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, hocking your house against a lucky chance. The time will come when you have to pay up; you’ll be left with nothing but the shirt on your back. (Proverbs 22:26-27) "Life Hack #3" looks at where it is we determine our "...

True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind.  (Kevin Gates) I'd have to say there are a whole lot of 'posers' in this world today - people who proclaim great wealth and tend to 'flaunt it' a little at times. These same people are oftentimes poor in the true sense of the word - deficient, lacking, impoverished in the spiritual and emotional realm. Why is it that material wealth really doesn't satisfy us all that well? I think it is because we are made as 'tri-part' beings - body, soul, and spirit. All have to be fulfilled for their to be a true balance in life. We cannot neglect the spirit and feed only the body or soul. One cannot exist without the other. Wealth does little to feed the spirit, while it oftentimes overfeeds the body and soul. There is a lot of pretense in life, but we cannot pretend to have a healthy spirit apart from it being indwelt by the Spirit of God. One pretends he is wealthy but has nothing, while ...

Riches are elusive - especially when we are pursuing them.  Riches seldom fall into our laps, delivered on a silver platter, all nice and neat.  Instead, we have to pursue, labor, direct our focus, and spend a whole lot of time going after them.  Now, don't get me wrong - I don't want to live in a cardboard box, but if we just begin to consider this a little, we might just get a little insight into our seventh principle for living with a solid foundation in life.  Riches are not "prohibited" or "bad" for a Christian, but they are not the end-all!  I think our purpose today is to discover where our true riches are and how they are obtained, maintained, and continually refreshed.   Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;  restrain yourself!   Riches disappear in the blink of an eye;  wealth sprouts wings  and flies off into the wild blue yonder.  (Proverbs 23:4-5 MSG) To be certain, our riches are really not the things or...

All over the world people are hoping to hit the big winnings of the lottery or some contest.  They faithfully march to the local establishments selling the tickets in order to make their "weekly investment" into the "big ticket".  Some play the same numbers week after week, determined it will be THEIR week this week.  Forbes magazine published an article November 28, 2012 entitled "Why Winning Powerball Won't Make You Happy" written by Susan Adams.  In the article, she cites multiple studies which point out the IMMEDIATE high or exuberance of winning, but the quick return to a low point within just a short point in time.  Why?  She concluded that "while winning the lottery can make a difference, it won't affect the other conditions of your life".  This is so true! We can "bet" on the windfall, or we can count on the certainty of what God provides.  The choice seems pretty simple to me, but obviously there are a whole lot of oth...

4-5  Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself! Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings    and flies off into the wild blue yonder. (Proverbs 23:4-5) The more we watch the news these days, check in incessantly on the status of our investments, and listen to the doomsday picture painted by those who analyze the status of our financial institutions, the more we move into a panic mode as it relates to our "financial security".  We begin to envision the worst - because the picture laid out for us by those who have a "big picture" view of the state of things.  Scripture has a lot to say to us about our relationship with our money.  Our passage today reminds us that we can "wear ourselves out" trying  to get rich - and even more so when we are trying to "keep" the riches we have amassed in an economy that is failing. Wealth can really be defined as anything that we have in great quantity that we ha...