The Plumbline

Like it or not, we will not always see eye-to-eye. There will be disagreements, some quite peaceful, others not so much. We will spend precious time debating the merits of someone else's decisions, lack of 'good judgment', or unwise actions, all while they are debating ours. What good does that do anyway? We could spend endless hours criticizing the ones who get into political office, head up our churches, or even lead us in the work arena, but what good comes of all that criticism and debate? It would benefit us much more to heed the advice to think upon the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; and things to be praised, not the things we could curse! Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw ...

It is always good to have a "recipe" or "instructions" to follow - especially when you are trying to create something you are not familiar with - new experiences demand solid instructions in order to not get things messed up along the way. The same is true in our spiritual walk - we have not walked this way before, so we need the "recipe" or "instructions" for how it is that we are to live. Today we will explore a couple of important principles - contrasting the way we should live against the way we often choose to live. Probably above all, we need to understand what it is that we are choosing to have "made of our lives" - it should be to be counted wise and to build a reputation that is rock-solid. Reputation is how we are known - it reflects either the wisdom or foolishness of our choices. Some people refer to a reputation as the "character" of a man or woman. Today's 'recipe' or 'instructions' is really ...