The Plumbline

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. (Hebrews 13:1-3) Keep on...the call for the new year. It is not a time to sit back and just watch...it is a time to rise up and take action. Love each other...as brothers and sisters. No family is perfect. No relationship is always without stress or strain. We must work at loving one another as Christ loves us. Three missions for the new year:  Show hospitality to strangers. Give comfort, provide meals, present gifts, and lend them help. The Latin word “hospes” means “visitor”, so we are to look after and care for them. How can we make someone's life a little more comfortable? What act can we perform that will minister to their need? Remember the prisoner. This doesn't a...

We have perhaps one or two truly close friendships in the course of our lifetime, those marked by true intimate knowledge of each other and a depth of commitment which spans all the hurdles of how silly we can act on occasion.  These relationships matter so much to us - we work to preserve them, defend them, and even bolster them whenever things are a little shaky. Try hard to do right and you will win friends - scriptural instruction - not scriptural "advice".  The difference between the two - one is just an opinion which we can take or leave; the other is a promise based on truth. Some of us don't always "do right", though. In the realm of our "best friends", there is some amount of grace which just keeps us together and might even bind us closer together when we don't always "hit the mark" when it comes to "trying to do right". Do right; Live right; and Act wisely - three truths we need to explore if we are to maintain those ...