The Plumbline

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? (Romans 8:31-32 The Message) In other translations, this passage begins with the words, "If God be for us, who then can be against us..."  Well, I think our worst enemy is not some demonic agent of hell, but US!  It is amazing to me to see the things we believe about ourselves that keep us limited in our lives.  The passage begins with a very telling question:  "What do YOU think?"  The answer to this question goes a long way in us walking INTO growth as we should and not AWAY FROM it! The truth we often fail to embrace is that God did not hesitate to embrace us - in our sin , aware fully of our fickleness of heart, and knowing full well that every promise we'd make him would al...

"I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity; Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.  The Fear-of-God means hating Evil, whose ways I hate with a passion—pride and arrogance and crooked talk.  Good counsel and common sense are my characteristics; I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out." (Proverbs 8:11-14 The Message) When I went through Bible School, my professor taught us that "Wisdom" in the Proverbs is really a reference to a person - not just something to be gained.  I had never really considered that before, but I came to realize that he was right.  You see, Wisdom is really referring to Jesus.  The more of Jesus I have replicated in my life, the more wisdom I begin to possess.  From that perspective, I'd like to "unpack" these verses a little.  Wisdom (Christ) produces certain other "characteristic traits" within us - sanity, knowledge, discretion, insight, and virtue are but a few of these traits.  When...

  9-11 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 The Message) Love will flourish, but it must be cultivated.  This includes the love of others that we receive and learn to give, the love we come to understand in our relationship with Christ, and our love (acceptance) of who we are as Christ sees us.  Did you realize that the word "flourish" comes from the root meaning "to bloom"?  So, when Paul writes to the Philippian Church, he is reminding them that in order for their love to "bloom" there must be a process of cultivating, ...