The Plumbline

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times. (Martin Luther) Luther also told us to 'pray and let God worry'. Maybe one of the hardest things for us to come to appreciate is how much we like to worry and really don't take that worry to God until we are all 'worried out'. Jesus reminds us, "So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:31-34) Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace - not in our own ability or intelligence. It isn't about what we CAN do as much as it is ab...

“Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries. (Matthew 6:31-34) I used to kid with mom by telling her she worried about not having anything to worry about! She was a fretter. Towards the end of her life, when she had little else to do but 'think', she'd come up with some scenario, then think on it until she had herself kind of worked up about it. We'd have to talk through things until she had peace again about the situation she had become worked up about, then all would be good in her world again until the next 'scenario' got pain...

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. (Rabindranath Tagore) I say this because all of God lives in Christ fully, even in his life on earth. And because you belong to Christ you are complete, having everything you need. Christ is ruler over every other power and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10) If Christ lives in you, all of God lives in you - you are complete, lacking in nothing you ever need, full of power and might. Now, how many of us are actually living like we believe that? Most of us would cop to a plea of living somewhere below that mark, believing instead in the things that give us worry and stress as a bit more powerful right now. As Tagore said, 'faith is the bird that feels the light' even when the darkness around you hasn't been pushed away entirely by the light. We might just need to ask God to reveal himself in the darkness so it can be pushed back entirely! If Christ rules over every power and authority that exists, why do we worry...

Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds. (Philippians 4:6-7) If you struggle with what to say when you stop long enough to talk with God about things you are experiencing anxiety about, you are probably among a huge group of others who experience similar anxious thoughts. Anxiety has become one of the biggest issues today simply because of all the uncertainty in the world around us. Supply chain issues, rising interest rates, difficulty finding jobs that pay enough to make ends meet, unrest over one's beliefs, and the list goes on. For some, these things can become overwhelmingly difficult to deal with. The desire is to have God take it all away, but the reality is that God primarily helps us walk through those difficulties rather than removing them co...

Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries. (Matthew 6:32-34) Stop for just a moment - get quiet and focus with me for just a second or two. What were you just worrying about - that thing you just kept mulling over and over in your mind that you just cannot seem to put out of it? To worry means you pass over something with repeated focus, almost as though you were wearing a "rut" into it just by the frequency of thought or attention you are giving it. In some respects, worry is understandable and kind of productive. When you cannot figure ou...

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4:6-7) If you are anything like me, you have those moments of worry or doubt that plague you from time to time. As much as you want to trust God for the outcome, you just find it hard to let go of the worry. You mull over the stuff until it is a constant nagging in your brain and your heart. A sense of God's wholeness is the furthest thing you are experiencing at that moment, but it is the one thing you long for more than anything. So, how do we go from being so overwhelmed by the circumstances of life to the place where we sense his wholeness in our lives? Maybe it comes when we are finally willing to let God know our concerns, not hol...

Worry weighs a person down;  an encouraging word cheers a person up. (Proverbs 12:25) How are encouraging words best used? In what circumstances do they matter the most? Who is best to bring those encouraging words into our lives? Is it possible the words of encouragement you are hearing are not always genuine? If you are worrying about those words, you are likely weighed down, feeling like you don't 'deserve' those words. Words of encouragement aren't to be given out so freely that someone doesn't think them genuine, but when they are needed most, they should be spoken the loudest! Encouragement might be to receive a boost that actually brings us back to life a bit, being bolstered by the words we hear, or to be spurred on in a certain direction. Regardless of the circumstances, there are times when we just need a bit of encouragement - either to continue on the course we are on, or to keep doing what we have been doing because it is 'working' to accomplish...

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (I Peter 5:7) Anxieties and worries don't just disappear - they have to be dealt with, but it isn't always our effort that is needed to deal with them. All will probably agree that the most beneficial thing to do is to take them to God in prayer. Some will think there are going to be times when you just gotta fix things yourself. I have to challenge that this morning. There is never a time when our anxieties and worries are best dealt with in our own power. As we take them to God in prayer, there will be times when he asks us to do something, but that doesn't mean we are 'fixing' the problem on our own. It means we were humble enough to recognize we don't possess all the knowledge, have all the power, or understand fully how to 'deal with' the issue at hand - then when God tells us how to deal with it, we do as we are told! Sometimes we will be told to lay it right there at the foot of the ...

The saying is true: Bad dreams come from too much worrying, and too many words come from foolish people. (Ecclesiastes 5:3) Are you a dreamer? I don't have many dreams I can recount when I awaken. Most of the time I simply have a slight memory for a short period of time and then as I fully awaken, those memories fade away as quickly as the day dawns. Yet, I have dreams - mine are just 'daytime dreams'. I think on things at night when I awaken, mulling them over and over in my mind until I find a solution to the thing I am contemplating. If I need to make something out of this or that, I think on the many 'solutions' to the 'making'. I don't create the thing while I am asleep, but rather when I am fully awake, firmly committed to the design I imagine will work, and committed to beginning to put the idea into motion.  Bad dreams - do we have these on occasion? Some people suffer from traumatic circumstances that leave them with haunting 'nightmares...

Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.   (Corrie Ten Boom) I don't want to brag or anything, but I haven't worried about anything in the last ten minutes! Yes, I am making light of a much bigger problem, but it is good to laugh once in a while, isn't it? Worry indeed robs us of our strength - the strength we need in order to face whatever we are going through today. I used to worry a great deal about what tomorrow would bring - especially when I was working. Every new day meant new challenges - some I didn't want to face, others I actually enjoyed. As a kid, I had a terrible problem of nail biting. It was a nervous habit - done unconsciously, without real effort, and was quite difficult to stop.  Mom bought m...

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. (Leo Buscaglia) That word is for someone today - not sure who - but you will know it when you hear it. Worry robs so many of us of today's joy - not because it has any power of its own, but because we give it the power to rob us. Worry is a state of mind, heart, will, and emotions. It diminishes our drive, deflects our focus, and demeans our hopes. If you are a 'worrier', it is time to remember we are called to be 'warriors', not worriers.  Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life; don’t for a minute lose sight of them. They’ll keep your soul alive and well, they’ll keep you fit and attractive. You’ll travel safely, you’ll neither tire nor trip. You’ll take afternoon naps without a worry, you’ll enjoy a good night’s sleep. No need to panic over alarms or surprises, or predictions that doomsday’s just around the corner, Because God will be right there with you; he’ll keep...

There is a part of our mind that goes into a panic mode without us even having to think about something. That part of our mind needs the help of the other parts of our brain to not always being in the panic mode. We panic because of the amygdala, but we can get control over panicked thoughts because the prefrontal cortex can bring reason into the situation. There is always a 'trigger' with any form of panic, anxiety, or fear. Our minds can go do the 'panic highway' and take us to the point of being overwhelmed by the thing we are keeping on our minds the most. If it is on our mind - remember it is in God's heart. He wants our mind's burdens to be given to him, so he can restore our minds to a place of peacefulness. Finally, my brothers and sisters, always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things. Do what yo...

When I said, “My foot is going out from under me,” Your loving-kindness held me up, O Lord. When my worry is great within me, Your comfort brings joy to my soul. (Psalm 94:18-19) The details never escape God, even when they seemingly escape our notice or attention. Maybe this is why it is so essential for us to trust God - because he has an eye on the details and he will never fail. Even though he never fails, our trust in him does, huh? We let worry grow within us - until it mounts to astronomic levels - and then we panic a little. God never stops taking care of the details of our lives, even when we are spinning out of control. The needs of our life are there, but he has all those needs under his control - no amount of 'great worry' will ever help bring the answer to those needs quicker, or in any better manner! I don't know where you are today, but I know there are bound to be some of you who are feeling like your feet are going out from underneath you. It may be like yo...

When we have thoughts that are constantly gravitating toward worry, it becomes an all-consuming process that works over and over again in our brains until it eats us up! Did you ever really think about what worry is - not worry over worry, but think about what might be at the root of it? When we are spending our time in worry, we are really focusing all our time on reviewing over-and-over again what we have absolutely no power over - the control is really in another's hands! That seed of doubt, fear, frustration, and indecisiveness soon become a full-grown tree of worry, bearing repeated fruits of anxiety that we feed on and continue to mull over in our minds. We have no control over it, but it soon begins to control us - it draws us in deeper and deeper. I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. (...

It was Dwight D. Eisenhower who reminded us, "We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it." Peace is sometimes found as the result of the fight, not just in the absence of it. We might just find ourselves in the fight of our lives, but see no way out. In just the right time, and in just the right way, peace comes. How is that? The fight is still going on around us, but in the midst of it all, there comes a peace that is quite unexpected. It is a "God thing" - something we don't have to understand to appreciate! Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4:7 MSG) Worry is the natural emotion when the battle rages and the fight gets harde...

We all have "relationship" issues - no one is really immune to them - even if they only last for a while. One such 'issue' is something referred to as worry or anxiety. What does worry have to do with relationship? Glad you asked! Worry must be understood in order to see the impact it has on us - both in our relationship with God and in relationship with others.  Worry can be defined as those things (thoughts, attitudes, actions) that choke or strangle us - consuming our energy, and thereby choking the "life" out of our relationships. Worry impacts relationships because it is a behavior that "takes away from" the time or energy one puts into relationship - because our attention, thoughts, and activities are directed toward whatever it is we are worrying over.  Worry weighs us down; a cheerful word picks us up. (Proverbs 12:25) An old-fashioned definition of worry is to touch or "bother" something repeatedly. The idea of "bothering...

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.   (Philippians 4:6-7 MSG) Honestly answer this: When you are faced with the type of things that cause you to worry even a little, is your actual first response to those worries to 'worry' or 'pray'? Honestly, I think most of us might admit it is to worry, then to pray when we finally realize we are worrying! The Apostle Paul experienced some rather tough trials in his time in service to the Lord. He was jailed, brought before magistrates to give an account for his actions, engaged with others in ministry that had a hard time getting along with each other, and he faced physical ailments in his body...just to name a few of...

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.  (Matthew 6:34) The other day, mom asked me about my BFF's father - if he worried about her like she worries about me. If I don't make it home at a very specific time, she begins to imagine I am in a multiple car pile up and never coming home to her. She has always been one to imagine the worst - even when I was a small child. We used to joke that she worried over what there is to worry about! Worry is a very real thing - because we don't always know what the outcome will be. Would you say you actually know what God is doing in your life right here and now? Are you so consumed with worrying about what might happen sometime into the future that you are missing out on the here and now of God's tremendous love? Worry is a limiting device in our lives - it consume...

There is a lovely Christian song by the group 'We Are Messengers' that absolutely catches my heart each time I hear it played on the radio. The words are from the song "Magnify", and they begin with the words: " I've been trying to make sense of the sorrow that I feel, holding onto for life to the only thing that's real. I've only scratched the surface; I've barely had a taste, but just a glimpse draws my heart to change; and one side of you lays my sin to waste. I don't need to see everything, just more of you ." How many of us go through our days just trying to figure out some emotional "sense" we have been experiencing - a sorrow of some kind? I daresay it is far more than might want to admit it. The fact is evident - we all suffer some type of sorrow that kind of hangs us up a while - if only because of our own sinfulness. At those moments, we need to remember one thing - we don't need to understand it all, but we do nee...

" There isn't enough room in our minds for both worry and faith. You must decide which one will live there. " ( www.facebook.com/Missional-Women ) There isn't much room in my mind for more of anything most days!  I find my mind filled to the brim and sometimes flowing over because of all the details, issues, and regular day-to-day stuff it has to filter through and figure out how to manage. To clutter my mind with worry is just not a good use of my "brain matter".  One thing I have come to count on is the position Christ is in as the one who rules over my life.  He has the vantage point I don't possess and at that point, he has full the full perspective on what his happening, is going to happen, and even what has happened.  That said, to worry is kind of a waste of my time - it is much more likely the results I desire are going to come in trusting! From such a vantage, He is able to save those who approach God through Him for all time because He w...