The Plumbline

Okay, you have probably heard this parable once or twice.  If not, this may not do it justice, but it may give us some "seed thoughts" upon which we can allow God's Spirit to develop over time.  A farmer planted.  One thing is for sure - seed purposefully planted is a wondrous thing.  Your gardens and fields can be filled with all kinds of manner of growing things - because of purposeful planting.  Just as amazing to me is the seeming strength of the stuff which is NOT purposefully planted in our gardens or fields!  How is it they manage to get there in the first place, or find root? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.  (Matth...

Have you ever been asked to do something you weren't really willing to pay the price to do?  Perhaps someone riddled with cancer asks you to go with them to the doctor for their next update - while secretly you are dreading the long waits and the fact you are surrounded by sick people with waning hope.  Maybe you have been asked to give of your time to a ministry at the local church - all the while wondering just how much this is going to "cut into" your "free time".  Regardless of what you are asked, you probably struggle a little with the "price" associated with it, huh?  We all struggle when it comes to the price - it is only natural .  What we fail to recognize is Christ wants us to move from responding in the natural and beginning to respond in the spiritual . "If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come fol...

You know, for the most part, the Bible is pretty practical.  It lays out sound advice on how to make financial decisions such as the borrower becoming slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7).  We find instruction in how to have a solid family life such as it taking wisdom to build a house and understanding to set it on a firm foundation (Proverbs 24:3).  We also find the warnings of things we should avoid because they will be our "undoing" - things like not interfering with good people's lives as it may end up with us flat on our face (Proverbs 24:15-16).  Yet, there are many questions we just don't seem to find the "straight" answers to with a whole lot of ease.  Jesus spent about three years teaching his disciples as he made his way to the cross.  In that period of time, he laid out all kinds of truth.  Some of it stumped the crowds, but the disciples got it.  Other times, the disciples were just as bewildered as the crowds!  One day, Peter fin...