The Plumbline

Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) Regretfully, there are just some moments in life when joy is the furthest thing from the emotions we are feeling at that moment. The world seems to equate joy with happiness, though, so when anything disturbs our happiness, we might say that our joy has been stolen by the event or memory. Joy is a much deeper feeling and is not based in circumstance - it is based on the relationship we have with Jesus. Happiness is elation over something that happened - it is fleeting and isn't guaranteed to be 'evoked' all that often. Joy is the emotion that emerges when we remember we have been placed securely in the arms of Jesus, that nothing and no one can rock our world so badly as to remove us from that safe place. Some will understand it best when we say that joy is internally based, while happiness is externally stimulated. If...

I love God because he listened to me, listened as I begged for mercy. He listened so intently as I laid out my case before him. Death stared me in the face, hell was hard on my heels. Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn; then I called out to God for help: “Please, God!” I cried out. “Save my life!” God is gracious—it is he who makes things right, our most compassionate God. God takes the side of the helpless; when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me. (Psalm 116:1-2) It is both heart-warming and a little bit of a bummer that we have to come to the end of our ropes to find God waiting on us, isn't it? I wonder if there is a lesson in finding ourselves in the place where we feel totally helpless - not hopeless, but helpless. In other words, we find ourselves in extreme need, but don't know how to meet that need anymore in our own efforts. I think God is right there just waiting for us to get to that very point - because when we finally admit we 'cannot', h...

Sometimes I think we imagine the worst, hope for the best, but really have no idea what to expect when life gets a little crazy all around us! One thing we should keep in mind is that the 'worst' is never really the 'worst' - the 'worst' has a way of morphing over time! Lamentations is not the most well-read book in the Bible, but it is there for a very specific purpose. Jeremiah is the writer and this is considered to be one of the poetic books of the Bible - not really my idea of poetry, but it is in biblical writings. The primary purpose in writing was to mourn the huge loss of Jerusalem, and more importantly, the Holy Temple. The nation of Judah is taken into exile, probably under the Babylonian rule, and there is great turmoil and sorrow in the land. Nothing has been the same since they lost their Holy City. In fact, the Book of Lamentations is read at the Wailing Wall today on a weekly basis as a memorial of the great sorrow and tragedy of losing their ...

If you have ever felt like you just didn't have what it took for the issue at hand, rest assured you are not alone in that feeling! For seven years, Israel was under the domination of a heathen nation known as Midian. The story of man called Gideon begins with the description of the ugliness that domination brings to a nation - others eating their crops, turning their camels loose to bring their pasture lands to ruin, and sending the people scurrying to the caves to hide from their captors in cowering fear of their destructive forces. As is always the case with God, he hears the cries of their hearts, sends a prophet, and re-explains to them why they are in bondage. It is simple: God spoke to them of his tremendous care for them, demonstrated that care repeatedly in mighty ways, and they still chose to fear the people around them! Fear is always a place of bondage - plain and simple! One day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiez...

It is quite easy for us to get 'drug down into' the culture of our day. The catty comments from opposing candidates catch our attention on the airwaves. The promise of this remedy providing instant this or that lures us into the latest of fads that only rob us of our hard-earned money and deliver none of the desired results. Easily swayed, we become 'prey' to these influencing factors. Wouldn't it be much more rewarding to be influenced with the type of things that actually pick us up instead of dragging us down? God's desire has always been for us to be 'drawn up', not down! So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You...

If you have ever had one of those mornings where yours eyes open and you just feel like celebrating Jesus, you can totally relate to the psalmist when he proclaims he is "ready from head to toe" to get the day started with Jesus. For the most part, if we were totally honest here, our days don't begin this way very often!  In fact, we awake to the thoughts of how much laundry has to be done, the groceries we need to get later in the day, what might happen at work with a particular issue which has been brewing, and whether the blemish we noted on our chin just prior to going to bed last night has erupted into a total "Mount Vesuvius"!  Ordinary life breaks in on our thoughts pretty doggone quickly and we find ourselves carried away in the planning, fixing, and doing of the day.  We might want to challenge these "ordinary" life moments a little, though - because a day started with Jesus is going to make it an "extraordinary" day instead! I’...

Our desires go a long way in determining our end results in life.  We have been studying about how much God loves and blesses people of integrity - lives lived out according to his plan and purpose, with honesty and humility. Anytime we have "twisted desires", it leads to "twisted hearts" and the outcome will be less than good.  In fact, I think twisted ambition is what gets us so frustrated most of the time.  We get out undies in a wad - either at another, over something we cannot control, or totally because we are mad at ourselves - all because of some "twisted" desire or ambition.  When we learn to "untangle" our lives a little bit, it is amazing how much different things actually appear! The desires of good people lead straight to the best,   but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration.  (Proverbs 11:23 MSG) Life is filled with all kinds of choices we might make.  There are "good" and then there are "best" choices, a...

Every year, there are various awards given to music artists - Grammy awards, Billboard Hall of Fame, GMA Dove awards, etc.  Within each award "group" there are various divisions of honor - best album, best single, top artist, etc.  I will never win such an "honor".  I might sound okay in the shower, but to be able to stand before an audience and belt out a tune, totally on key, and with gusto - that's just not gonna happen.  Most of us fall into this category of "singers" - we sing "okay", but our ability to "make music" is not much to write home about!  Maybe what makes the song we sing so significant is not the perfect tone, but the audience to whom we sing. Sing songs to God, sing out!   Sing to our King, sing praise!  H e’s Lord over earth,  so sing your best songs to God.  (Psalm 47:6-7 MSG) Our psalmist reminds us "who" it is we sing for - God himself.  He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords - as such, we sing...