The Plumbline

When God asks us to lay ourselves bare before him, he is actually telling us we need to be totally and completely exposed to him.  At first, this seems a little disconcerting to most of us because we are not used to exposing ourselves! We live life kind of "covered up", don't we?  In fact, there are even some of us who will even struggle to be totally exposed in the safety and security of our own homes!  Why?  It brings us to the level of being left without anything to hide behind and that is uncomfortable for some.  The hardest lesson for us to learn sometimes is the one of trusting God not to laugh at or mistreat our "nakedness" before him.  I don't mean this in a crass sense, but a nakedness of emotions, thought, and even our will.  When we are THAT transparent that he can see beyond all our attempts to hide our true feelings, tumultuous thoughts, and battle of the will, this is the place where we can truly begin to heal from those things...

What story are you writing?  A couple of weeks ago, our church handed out small wristbands which simply read "The Next Chapter".  As we all go through life, we are busy writing the story of our lives - we all leave a legacy - some good, some not as good.  What gets written in the pages of our lives is not always within our control, but most of the time, it is influenced by our response to what comes our way.  I think we can influence what gets written in the pages of the lives of those we are closest to - because we all have the opportunity to help someone up when they have fallen, restore them when they have made wrong choices, and carry their burdens when they are just too hard to carry on their own. My spiritual brothers and sisters, if one of our faithful has fallen into a trap and is snared by sin, don’t stand idle and watch his demise. Gently restore him, being careful not to step into your own snare. Shoulder each other’s burdens, and then you will live ...