The Plumbline

Good sense or sound judgment seems to fly out the window on occasion, right?  You seem to be sailing right along and then all of a sudden, wham! You just come smack dab up against a moment of decision, let good sense fly right out the window, and wham - you are smack-dab in the middle of a muddle.  When this happens in your life "on occasion", most don't think too much about it because we all fall prey to getting a little distracted, or just not thinking before we act on occasion.  If this becomes the way you live life - we begin to think your "sensibility" is a little warped - you might even say we begin to wonder if you don't even put to use the good sense your God gave you!  Everyone admires someone who seems to operate in the realm of using their "good sense" - but when we encounter someone who cannot even use the good sense they were given, we might actually begin to see their actions as repulsive, or worse, we see the person as repulsive. A...

Back in the day, before thermometers were a common thing in each medicine cabinet, parents used to "test" their children for fever by placing their lips on the forehead of the child.  It seemed like an odd way to do it since we have seen people repeatedly use their hands laid across the forehead to "evaluate" the feverishness of another.  Yet, it was a pretty doggone accurate process!  More accurate than the hand - and the closest to the true determination of "fever" than anything other than a thermometer.  The lips have a great deal of "sensitivity" receptors which allow them to be pretty accurate at interpreting what touches them. Post a guard at my mouth,  God ,   set a watch at the door of my lips.   (Psalm 141:3 MSG)   The "sensitivity" receptors of our lips works both ways - affected by what leaves our mouths, and by what touches it!  Maybe this is why David prayed for God to post a guard at his mouth - the entry and exit p...

Can you explain "taste"?  Most of us would say some things "taste" sweet, others sour.  Maybe we'd describe some things as "yummy" and others as "yucky".  Either of these explanations would be correct, for taste is something we each "sense" in our own way, although we are all "built" with the same "sensations" in our taste buds.  It depends on WHAT we are tasting, WHEN we are tasting it, and WHAT ELSE we've been tasting just before we tasted whatever it is we are experiencing right now, doesn't it?  For example, a good cup of hot coffee tastes really good on a cold morning, or just as you are trying to get your eyes open.  But...have you ever had a cup of coffee in the morning after you have had a night of indulging on onions and garlic?  The "taste" of coffee is masked a little by what it was we experienced the night before.  Brush your teeth and use a little mouthwash!  The experience changes,...

9-10 He said, "Go and tell this people:   "'Listen hard, but you aren't going to get it;  look hard, but you won't catch on.'   Make these people blockheads,  with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes, so they won't see a thing, won't hear a word, so they won't have a clue about what's going on     and, yes, so they won't turn around and be made whole." (Isaiah 6:9-10) Imagine the surprise in Isaiah's eyes when he hears these words from the one who has just called and anointed him to be the prophet to the nation of Israel.  He has stepped forward, hearing the call of God, in obedience....and this is the first message he is told to deliver to the people!  No easy calling here!  I think I would be reconsidering if I took one step backward when everyone was taking one forward!   Isaiah is asked to bring the message that reveals the heart and spirit of the nation - you listen, but you don't hear; you see, but y...