The Plumbline

How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. Such people will not be overcome by evil. Those who are righteous will be long remembered. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor. (Psalm 112:1, 5-9) Serve God and obey his commands. There is great reward in living according to the standards God lays out for us in his Word. Nothing outdoes the grace of God, no one outdoes his love. Evil abounds, but those who choose to walk with Jesus will never be overcome by that evil. How do we recognize evil? Is it always right 'out there and in our face'? No, certainly not - sometimes it is an undercurrent, an attitude, a cleverly disguised argument. The Word of God actually helps us recognize the undercurrent, avoiding the ...

Life Hack #4: Keep those boundaries - but you have to know them before you can keep them! Boundaries are really nothing more than a dividing line. We have all kinds of "dividing lines" in life, don't we? Some are quite real - like those drawn for the purposes of playing a sport on the field. Others are set up in our minds - not specifically clear to others, but definitely clear to us. The problem comes when someone wants to move one of those boundaries - stretching it or reducing it in some manner. We feel a little threatened, challenged, or overcome by this attempt to move the "markers", don't we?  Don’t stealthily move back the boundary lines staked out long ago by your ancestors. (Proverbs 22:28) In Old Testament times, they did not have surveyors with highly technical laser point imaging tools to assist in laying out boundary lines. They'd use landmarks or "markers" of sorts to indicate a boundary. They'd say the boundary limit w...

  “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.” (John 14:21) It is one thing to know something, but quite another thing to act upon what we know, isn't it? I just discovered a crack in my drywall that was repaired when they painted the house a year ago. I believed the repair to be solid and to the uninformed eye it was pretty much undetectable. I heard some settling the other night and now it is back again! I see it - know it is there - but I haven't taken any action to repair it yet. Why? I want to know the best way to act - not acting in haste, wasting time and resources on something that won't last. We all get the same information about God's commandments, don't we? We can read them in his Word and we can even talk them over with others who also know them. It is one thing to 'know' them - quite another to be willing to ta...

Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can’t see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there’s nothing there.  Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. (2 Corinthians 3:15-18) Back in the day, I used to be quite a 'rule-follower'. As a matter of fact, my friends used to make a bit of fun with me because they knew I would not do some things they might feel ...

What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record. There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration.  All day and all night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.  Now I say that each believer should confess his sins to God when he is aware of them, while there is time to be forgiven. Judgment will not touch him if he does. (Psalm 32:1-6 TLB) There was a time...those simple words have been heard time and time again, recounting the memories of some former condition and now observing the change that has occurred. In some situations, the memory of the '...

142  Your justice is eternal for your laws are perfectly fair.  143  In my distress and anguish your commandments comfort me.  144  Your laws are always fair; help me to understand them, and I shall live. (Psalm 119:142-144 TLB) One thing we can learn from history is that God's laws (rules for living) are always "fair". The same cannot always be said about the laws of the land, or those some insist upon in their "own little world". Human beings have a very hard time "being fair" - we just have a bent toward showing someone a little more "favor" than another (sometimes because that "someone" is us). It is important to remember a law is nothing more than a "rule" that helps to define the way we are to conduct ourselves - it defines how it is we are to be living - oftentimes guiding the culture of a group, not just our own self. All laws set parameters - boundaries. Living within those boundaries is what is referred to as ...

“But maybe you don’t want to serve the  Lord . You must choose for yourselves today. Today you must decide who you will serve. Will you serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River? Or will you serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land? You must choose for yourselves. But as for me and my family, we will serve the  Lord .” ( Joshua 24:15   ERV ) We all serve something. It may be we serve ourselves - paying close attention to our needs and wants, while shutting out the needs and wants of those around us. We might serve others - doing all they demand and even more, but ignoring all the needs of our own body, mind, or soul. We could even serve something - not a person, but rather an object that has become the central focus of our existence, such as alcohol, drugs, or addictive substance. It really isn't as much a matter of "serving" as it is making a choice as to who or what we will allow in that space r...

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility." (Eleanor Roosevelt) I had to take a philosophies class in college - the toughest thing for me to sit through that you could ever imagine. I think might just have enjoyed my root canals better than I enjoyed that class! Why? The purpose of philosophy class was to teach me to think in the absence of laws, medicine, theology, technical precepts, and/or practical arts. While I know not everything in this world can be defined as either black or white, with some gray area existing, it is just plain hard for me to exclude things like God's teachings, evidence based upon scientific experiment, etc., from my possible "solution" to life's problems! You are to fear Him and obey His rules and commands, just as I’m teaching them to you now. Do this your whole lives—you, your children and your grandchildren—and you’l...

Oh, that  every part of  my life would remain in line  with what You require!   Then I would feel no shame  when I fix my eyes upon Your commands.   With a pure heart, I will give thanks to You  when I hear about Your just  and fair  rulings. 8  I will live within Your limits;  do not abandon me completely!  (Psalm 119:5-8 VOICE) I looked up the phrase "in line with" in an online dictionary and saw this definition: "to cause to conform or agree with". Most of our challenges in life are because we have somehow become "out of line with" what God requires. We have chosen our own way, determined our own course of action.  We thought the "line" was too hard - it "confined" us too much.  On the other hand, when we chose to cross the line, we might have just realized our "newfound freedom" was just a little more than we bargained for! As a young woman, just learning to drive, I was in my friend's car and she gave me the...

Boundary lines are either real or imagined lines that mark the limits or edges of something and separates it from other things and places.  In other words, it is a dividing line.  When I was a kid, we'd play foursquare with a large rubber ball and four large squares marked out on the concrete with a piece of chalk.  When the ball went over or touched the "line", it was declared out of bounds and it was a point for the one who did not get it out of bounds.  The goal was to keep the ball in play without it going on or outside of those lines. I would see other kids playing marbles with similar rules.  Circles would be drawn around a large marble in the middle.  The kids would take turns shooting their marbles at the large, much desired marble in the middle, until one of them was able to get the marble to the outside of the circle.  The goal was to retain as many of your shooter marbles as possible while also getting as many other marbles out of the circl...

We can "get" something and we can "take" something.  They have very different meanings, don't they?  To "get" something does not always mean we put it to use in our lives - we just "possess" it as ours, but it may not have an impact on our lives.  To "take" something implies we intend to put it into use. When we "take" a piece of bread from the plate, we likely are more apt to use it to sop up the gravy on our plate than when we just have it casually placed on a dish next to our dinner plate.  To "take" good counsel and accept correction means we actually do something with what we receive in the way of counsel and apply the corrective measures to ensure the outcome of our plans is different than it would have been without the counsel or correction.  When we get something, we are being affected by it - it changes us in some way. This is what God had in mind when he instructed us to live wisely and well by taking t...

Mending fences - something we don't do much anymore because we live in gated communities complete with their tall brick or block walls.  For most of us with "fences" in our yards, they are erected more for a sense of privacy than as a functional "tool" to assist us with our herds, flocks, or the like.  As I ventured through the back country of Tennessee this last week, something caught my attention about those folks who had fences.  They actually served the purpose of keeping something in and also keeping something out!  The cattle were out to pasture, but within confines.  The horses could run the paddock, but within confines.  This is what fences do, isn't it - they confine something.  Two things occur - the living things inside remain safely in the protective barrier, receiving the care they need, and the things which do not belong stay on the outside of those fences.  Broken down fences don't provide for protection, nor do they provide for car...

Limit:  The final, utmost, or furthest boundary.  We have times when we think we are being "pushed" beyond our limits.  We find the challenge too great - like when we know there is chocolate in the refrigerator, the diet is just two days young, and we can actually hear audible voices calling to us from within the confines of the fridge!  I found it interesting to think of this verse in terms of our "limits".  In other words, Paul is telling us when we are about to reach the very outskirts of our "boundaries" in life, there is nothing strong enough to actually "push" us beyond that limit!  There is no test or temptation greater than God - no pull or push stronger than him. No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.  (I Corinthians 10:13...

Have you ever had that one true friend who pours wise counsel into your life?  I am blessed to have had several over the years.  When seeking defined purpose, looking into future plans, etc., we seek counsel - advice to help us make wise choices.  Our passage today is bringing us to the point of giving the "wise advice" which will function as guidance for our lives.  16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? (Galations 5:16-18 The Message) Live freely, animated a...

7-8   God  guards you from every evil, he guards your very life.    He guards you when you leave and when you return,       he guards you now, he guards you always. (Psalm 121:7-8) When I was in the military, I had the unfortunate lot of pulling "guard duty" on a few select occasions.  The thing that struck me most was that I was guarding "stuff" that I had no clue that anybody would want!  Sometimes I'd be assigned to the motor pool - now, I ask you, who wants an olive drab sedan?  At others, I'd walk the perimeter of the base, looking for intruders.  Ummm....now, ask me if I EVER saw any?  Nope!  So, what was the purpose?  Simply because you never know when the enemy will attack, or at what location.  So you "prepare" for the worst! Our passage today is taken from a psalm that celebrates God's watchfulness over his children.  The writer begins with the question, "Where does my ...

7-9  Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole. (Psalm 49:7-9) We have been exploring the scriptures that address our salvation experience and the fact that it is nothing we can earn or "work our way up to".  The keeping of commandments as outlined in scripture is not a system of works - do this and you will be like by God; don't do this and God will have no use for you.  The obedience of our heart, mind, and spirit is evidence that we love God and trust him - plain and simple.  When a parent tells a child not to touch the hot stove because it will hurt them - that is similar to a commandment.  It is shared with the child because the parent doesn't want to see the child hurt.  The same is true of the commandments (boundaries) established in scripture - they are God'...