The Plumbline

Have you ever noticed how some mornings the coffee just tastes better than other mornings?  It is the same coffee you scoop from the canister - you didn't change brands.  It is the same water you take from the tap - you didn't get a new water source.  It is even the same favorite coffee cup - you didn't change the vessel into which it is poured.  It is the same brewer you are using - you didn't even get a new coffee maker.  So, what is the difference?  I think if may just be something "internal" to us which appreciates the flavor, warmth, and rich body of that dark liquid that particular morning!  WE are the difference - it is our attitude toward that coffee - our perception of it is different today than it might have been yesterday.  We craved it a little more, our taste buds were "tuned up" to receive it, and the flow of the warm liquid over our tongues and into our stomach just caused us to sit up and take notice of the richness of the brew. I...

The day goes so much better when we have some type of plan to the project ahead, doesn't it?  If we know the wash needs to be done, but we have no plan for how to sort, pre-treat those items with stains, and eventually dry them at a setting which will not leave them too wrinkled or damaged by the heat, we might not do the job quite as well, right?  We want a plan in most things in life because it makes sense to understand the steps to take to get something accomplished.  I think we often approach our walk with Jesus in quite the same manner - we expect some kind of "plan" to get us from what we "used to be" to the place we become what "God wants us to be".  In essence, we have that plan laid out in scripture, tutored within us by the Holy Spirit, and modeled for us by Jesus himself and those who have chosen to put their trust in him down through the ages.  The "plan" fail, the person executing the plan does!  We think it is us having to exec...

How would you have liked to have been one of the prophets of Old Testament times, announcing the coming of grace, but not really recognizing the fullness of that grace within your days on this earth?  It had to be hard to be foretelling of the coming of the Messiah and not to have actually been able to set eyes on him.  Even the disciples and those who were able to see Christ in the flesh did not fully recognized all that grace will do in our lives once Jesus establishes his Kingdom and Satan is locked away into eternity in hell.  Grace is not just a one time thing, coming on the scene and then "poof", it is done!  Grace is here and now, but it is continuing and eternal, fulfilled and being fulfilled, accomplished and accomplishing. We may not get that at first, believing only that grace is for the forgiveness of our sins, but not realizing there is much, much more to this thing called "grace" as we go into eternity worshiping at the Throne of Grace! The prophe...