The Plumbline

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” (John 3:20-21) A crisis is defined as a time of intense difficulty or trial. It could also be a time of intense danger. Some would refer to that time as a catastrophe, disaster, or even a dilemma or quandary. God's children have nothing to worry about when those things 'creep in' or attempt to 'overtake' them, though. Why? They have the light to show them the way through or around it! Those without this light will be troubled or fearful of those things. They will run from them, attempting to find some way of ...

The more we experience light, the harder it becomes to tolerate darkness. This is true in every area of our lives. Get up in the middle of the night, when darkness abounds, then try to avoid hitting your toe on the furniture if there is not even one hint of light to guide your way. You stumble around, hands held outward groping for something to guide the way. Then there comes a bit of light - it settles our anxiety, helps us make out what has been hidden, and helps us 'navigate' with safety. Light is perhaps not essential, but the more we experience it, the more essential it becomes! God is light, and in him there is no darkness. So if we say that we share in life with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars, who don’t follow the truth. We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean. If we say that we have no sin, we are fo...

Desmund Tutu said, "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness." We can see all manner of darkness, but we don't see clearly in that darkness, do we? We are enveloped by its heavy shadow, but we can push back that shadow when we bring light into that dark place. Someone once said we can either be a candle or the mirror that reflects the candle - either way, we are pushing back darkness. We may not feel like it, but our very presence on this earth brings light into some very dark places. Lord, you provide the flame for my lamp. You, God, turn the darkness around me into light. (Psalm 18:28) God provides our 'flame' - we reflect his light. There is much to be said about having the 'right fuel' for our fire. You could start a fire with a gallon of gasoline, but it isn't all that safe because it has an explosive power. You could start a fire with a mirror, but it isn't reliable unless you have the brighter light of the s...

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...

We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place —until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:18-21) Sometimes we hear or read the same passage time and time again, thinking we already know what it says. The times we 'discount' what God has to say to us in any passage of scripture are times we miss out on God showing us afresh what he has to say, or somehow revealing something we might not have discerned when we were exposed to that same scripture earlier. Either way, we miss out. God's '...

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:12-13) If you haven't realized the innumerable forces standing against you, it is likely you've 'felt' their influence all around you. Unseen, in the periphery, and right there in front of you - the forces exist, are at work, and are constantly looking for any opportunity to call into question your faith and trust in God. Why? They don't like your determination to follow Jesus. You are a threat to them, so they want to make you think they are a threat to you! Every piece of armor has been provided so we stand stronger than any attack they bring. Everything we think they have to use 'ag...

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12) If you were in a dark room and someone offered to turn on a light for you, would you just continue to stumble along, feeling your way around obstacles, risking bumping into things as you did? It is likely that you'd accept the invitation to have light brought into the room because you don't like stumbling aimlessly! Obstacles abound in life - many of them of our own making. Why would we choose to just stumble around in the dark, running into those obstacles repeatedly, when we are offered light to help us avoid them completely? Jesus offers us light - light that dispels all manner of evil in our lives, pointing out obstacles and stumbling points so we don't run into them needlessly. Yet so many refuse to allow the light in. It seems to me that we get a little too used to this idea o...

Imagine being surrounded on all sides, enemy forces about to tromp on you, fear mounting, despair permeating every fiber of your being. You may not realize how 'dire' the circumstances really are, but you know something has happened to change the course of 'good times' in your life. We all get there on occasion - sometimes by our own doing. We choose to compromise our lives with some 'little sin' that really isn't 'all that big'. Then we wonder why we find ourselves with mounting pressures and attacks. Truth be told, that 'little sin' let in a dump truck load of other temptations you might not have wanted to entertain, but now they are there. In those times when the pressures seem to be closing in, keep in mind one very important fact - God has not forgotten how much you need light in your life! The Lord will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness. (Micah 7:9) Sin has a way of creating 'dark places' in our spirit, a...

Do you think God wants to judge anyone 'guilty' as they stand before him? If you know anything about scripture, you will know it is quite the opposite - for God "did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) God's greatest joy is to receive us each into his great big family through the work of his Son, Jesus. If we desire to be free of guilt, we only need ask for that gift! The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do. But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God.” (John 3:19-21) When we ask for light, we receive it and so much more. Grace comes in waves upon waves. Aren't you glad that grace is limitless? How is it that grace begins to do more...

  “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” (John 3:20-21) I have to say there are a lot of 'dark places' where people can find their 'hideout' within these days. The unfortunate reality is that although they think they are hidden from the light, light has a way of dispelling ALL darkness. It may not seem like it, but there are 'runners' in this world - those who do their very best to live independently and without thought as to their eternal future. To those who run I have one thought today - what is it you are really running from? Is it that you...

Have you ever moved a piece of furniture only to be mortified by the huge volume of dust bunnies collected under it? I have and let me tell you - I had no idea how 'out of control' they had become! What allows the dust bunnies to collect? Isn't it the darkness? We don't see them, so we don't think about them. They were covered by something that allowed them to 'get out of control'. In the darkest places, they could multiply unnoticed. Furniture now moved - they are exposed. They have to be dealt with now, don't they? We don't just push the object back over them and ignore them - we break out the broom and dustpan, the mop and pail, or the vacuum. They have to be gone before we move anything back into that space. Is any wonder that sin can get a bit out of control in our lives when we ignore those dark places where it can multiply unnoticed? God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life ...

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.  (Aristotle Onassis) Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12) Think about one of your 'darkest moments' right now. Maybe it was quite some time ago, or perhaps you are just coming out of that place right now. What did you experience as it started, went on for what seemed like an indefinite period of time, and when it finally ended? If your moment hasn't completely ended, you might just learn something from those of us who have seen the end. The darkest moments of our lives are a time of intense focus - they 're-center' us, don't they? There are hard feelings to endure through those times, and even some awful troubles that we have to overcome, but what we all have in common as we walk through these moments is there is no absence of hope as long as we tak...

Everyone who does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, because the light will show all the bad things they have done. But anyone who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that whatever they have done was done through God. ( John 3:20-21   ERV ) I had almost missed the tiniest bit of truth in this passage this morning, but after reading it again, I caught it! What WE do isn't really us doing it when we are moving toward the light of God - it is him DOING within us whatever it is that is done in and through us. Little steps toward light are called obedience. All steps into the realm of obedience are making it possible for God to be working in and through us - it is us yielding to his love and trusting his direction, but it is him working in us through and through. There are times when we all can observe evil around us - maybe even a little bit of it dwells in each of us on occasion, if we were to be entirely honest here. Evil intent ...

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. (J. R. R. Tolkien)  If our path is easy, well-lighted, and the journey is without much effort, it is likely we will see it through till the end. When our journey is harder than we expected, riddled with dark places and hard problems, and the demand upon both our energy and drive is beyond what we have left to give, we might want to give up or turn to a different course in life. One will get us somewhere, but will it yield the same strength of character? He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are  faithful  to him.   (Proverbs 2:8 NLT) Sometimes all we have to hold onto in the midst of dark places is the faithfulness of God in the face of our desire to just turn tail and run! God doesn't abandon us in the dark places - he is there to turn on the light switch! As a child, we may have been frightened of the darkness, experiencing all kinds of imaginary "monsters" come alive in the images...

Ruined lives surround us no matter where we live.  People start out well, but somehow through a series of misadventures and wrong turns, their lives end up in a state of shambles, almost like falling down shacks.  Along the way, they may have heard advice to not take a certain path, or to turn away from what they were pursuing with such earnest.  In ignoring the warnings, they compounded their misfortune and increased their speed of decline.  Now, at the bottom of the pit, they live with nothing more than regrets and the constant wondering of the "what if".  The worrisome part of their decline into the pit is the possibility of them having blamed God for the decline - for putting them in the pit.  In reality, it was their failure to heed warnings, to turn away from their self-directed pursuits.  Why is it we blame God when things end in ruins?  He isn't a God of "ruin", but of "hope", "possibilities", and even "impossibilities".   ...

Have you ever been in a fog so dense you could barely see your hand out in front of you?  Or maybe a snow storm so intense you could not make out what was ahead because it was so obstructed by the intensity of the flakes falling? Or perhaps a dust storm so dark you felt enveloped by the darkness?  If you have, then you probably know how totally inadequate you felt making any kind of move - you just didn't want to venture into the unknown because of the potential harm which might be right in front of you, but be totally unrecognized.  Even when the storm finally passes, the fog clears, the dust settles, it is quite possible things will appear differently.  The dust leaves this huge layer of sandy substance over everything, in every crevice.  The snow changes the once recognizable things into mounds, but conceals what is underneath.  The fog leaves moisture which weighs down even the strongest of plants.  What is missing in most storms is the light! ...

"I am the world's light.  No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness.  I provide plenty of light to live in." (John 8:12 The Message) Have you ever stumbled around in the darkness, stubbing your toe on something in your path that you knew perfectly well was there, but you just were "disoriented" by the darkness and ran into it anyway?  I think we might all have had that experience at least once in our lives.  With our toe throbbing, tears welling up in our eyes, and our original intention for being up in the dark lost in all the pain, we dance around and around bemoaning our pain.  Why were we walking in the dark anyway?  It is usually some silly reason, like we thought we could find our way without the light!  Ummm....how's that working for ya? If there is one thing that I have come to conclude in my life thus far it is that I don't do so well stumbling around in the "dark" when it comes to the spiritual side of my life.  I may ...