The Plumbline

My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He always did what was right, so he is able to defend us before God the Father. Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And he is the way all people can have their sins taken away too. If we obey what God has told us to do, then we are sure that we know him. If we say we know God but do not obey his commands, we are lying. The truth is not in us. But when we obey God’s teaching, his love is truly working in us. This is how we know that we are living in him. (I John 2:1-5) A long time ago, I had a pastor who told us it was okay to substitute our own names into scripture. For example, I could read this passage as, "My dear Lauretta, I write this letter to you...", making it come alive to me personally. When I began to realize scripture was written for ME, I began to find it both comforting and a little convicting. At times, it opened up doors for my hea...

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...