The Plumbline

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3) The word 'since' suggests a completed act - it is based on something having happened. Between something happening (you having said yes to Jesus) and the present time, you have been raised to new life. You are no longer living according to the same standards, desires, or plans. Now we set our sights on something 'higher' than we ever set them before. Our focus changes - we no longer maintain an 'earthly only' focus but learn how to refocus our attention on Christ.  Too many times, we focus on the earthly things and don't spend very much time at all focusing on the things God wants us to learn about him. We get consumed by jobs, household chores, and all...

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (Matthew 7:13-14) I live in an area where we have fenced yards. Block fences are most common, averaging about six feet tall. Gates vary, though. Some are about three feet wide, allowing us to get our trash cans in and out with ease. Others have what we commonly refer to as RV gates. Those wider gates are awesome if you have ATVs, flatbed trailers, pop-up campers, and the like. I have even seen some take extra cars into the backyard through those gates. Some open outward, inward, and even slide along a track along the fence line. In life, we are faced with various kind of 'entrances'. Some are wider than others. Many require us to open them ourselves, while others are 'auto opening' with some magic 'seeing eye' that senses we ar...