The Plumbline

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. (I John 3:18-22 NLT) How many times have we experienced the 'do as I say and not as I do' scenario in life? If you are honest, you probably have actually done opposite of what you know is right to do on more than one occasion. When our testimony (what we say) isn't matching what we do, there is a disconnect somewhere. One of the things I needed to learn in life is that what I say doesn't matter if what I do doesn't line up with the things God wants me to pursue and emulate in life. Let's not merely SAY that ...

Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NLT) Since we believe - prior to our point of believing in Christ as our Savior, we merely saw him from a human point of view. We interpreted everything in scripture from a human point of view. We saw nothing divine in him, nor did we really understand why the commandments given to us in scripture could actually be for our benefit and blessing.  When we see God's Words from a merely human point of view, the things G...