The Plumbline

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness. (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.) “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends." (John15:13-14) The very best way to love - love like Christ loves you! Indeed, three powerful resources are available to all who are redeemed by the blood of Christ: Love, Prayer, and Forgiveness. Without prayer, we find it hard to love the unlovely. Without forgiveness, we find it hard to love anyone! What does a life on the line look like? If we were to consider the examples throughout scripture, we could find a few that stand out. We can take a lesson from each of them. David may not have been the tallest kid in the lot of his brothers, nor was he likely the strongest, most talented, or even the most appreciated. ...

But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (Romans 6:23) Have you discovered that you no longer need to listen to sin tell you what to do anymore? If you are like the millions upon millions of others who have said 'yes' to Jesus, you likely still have a bit of a struggle in this area. Sin just doesn't 'go away' when you say 'yes' to Jesus - the ability for it to control you does, but the enticement to sin is still presenting itself. The issue is not whether sin still entices, it is really an issue of which voice we will listen to the most frequently! We can listen to our own inward lusts (desires), or we can listen to the sti...