The Plumbline

But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (Romans 6:23) Have you discovered that you no longer need to listen to sin tell you what to do anymore? If you are like the millions upon millions of others who have said 'yes' to Jesus, you likely still have a bit of a struggle in this area. Sin just doesn't 'go away' when you say 'yes' to Jesus - the ability for it to control you does, but the enticement to sin is still presenting itself. The issue is not whether sin still entices, it is really an issue of which voice we will listen to the most frequently! We can listen to our own inward lusts (desires), or we can listen to the sti...

Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. (James 1:13-15) Woodrow Wilson reminded us, "The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it." That might aptly describe how it is when we are tempted - swimming AGAINST the stream, trying to live a righteous life, but pulled ever so hard by the strength of the 'evil current' that works against us. I have been pulled or tugged in one direction or another all of my life. At times, I am tempted to say that God is working AGAINST me, but I know that is NEVER true. At others, I am fully aware that my own silly desires (lusts) get in the way of making right choices. Temptation is r...

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-11) I'd like to think I am more than a weekend warrior - just attending church and then forgetting about the pursuit of God's best for my life the rest of the week. Sadly, there are far too many Christians who are weekend warriors. They attend church regularly, but their lives are kind of devoid of much in the way of 'substance' when it comes to study of the Word of God, time in prayer, or even looking after the needs of others as scripture reminds us of is so important. The Apostle Paul puts it very well - this is no weekend wa...