The Plumbline

Does your ego every get the best of you? Do you find yourself having to 'put forward' something great you have accomplished just so others know you have accomplished it? If this is a tendency in your life, you are not alone. There are bunches and bunches of us that have been caught up in that trap from time to time. We get so focused on whatever it is we have accomplished and then we want everyone to know we have done it! We find ourselves prouder than can be and we want everyone to know it. Impressions only are made once - isn't there some kind of statement as to that truth? Doesn't it go something like, "You only get one chance to make a first impression?" Well, what impression have you been trying to make with God? Do you honestly think he finds your 'first impression' all that great? If you are like me, the first impression you put forward to him was a 'fake one' because you were ashamed by the real one! What actually took place is this

Some of us have no problem pointing out the insincere action of others, but let them point out one of ours and watch out!  That's meddling!  There is one bumper sticker which absolutely drives me nuts, not so much because the message is incorrect, but because so many people see it as a way of excusing bad behavior.  Wonder what that sticker says?  "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven!"  Yep, you got it!  I think some of our friends in this wide world in which we drive see this as an excuse for our continued behavior, more than reading the underlying truth within the saying.  Yet, if we look closely at scripture, we see Paul saying just about the same thing, but just with more words. Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren’t perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin?