The Plumbline

A warning is designed to give us caution - we are to proceed very slowly, if at all.  When we come across the flashing railroad lights, does the conductor of the train expect to see us stop, or barrel on through?  He expects us the heed the warning lights, slow our car, and await the trains passing.  When do those lights begin to flash?  Is it right when the train is about to cross our path?  Nope, they flash early enough for us to avoid the train's impact!  Warnings help us avoid impact with things which have the capacity of doing irreparable harm in our lives.  The Book of Jeremiah is filled with all kinds of warnings.  Warnings to not pursue “satisfaction” for the sake of satisfaction because it really doesn’t lead to the outcomes we desired.  Warnings about rejecting God for anything else because whenever we give anything (or anyone else) the place in our lives he deserves, we end up serving that thing (or person).  Warnings of sin'...

14  A healthy spirit conquers adversity,    but what can you do when the spirit is crushed? (Proverbs 18:14) A healthy spirit has conquering power!  There is a soundness and vigor that is evident when the spirit is in a place of "health".  Our writer asks a tough question:  What can you do when the spirit is crushed?  That's a tough one - even though your first answer might be to turn to Jesus to have him heal it!  That is kind of like a "pat answer" for all of our life's problems.  Yet, we often turn to him for health without even realizing what it was that brought us to the point of being crushed! We rarely get into a place where we have "crushed" spirits because we were blind-sided by some event, course of discussion, or infirmity of mind.  The emotional investment we make into our daily walk with Christ is a pretty good indicator of how "healthy" our spirit is.  When we are emotionally "invested", we might find ourselves...

16-19  Here are six things God hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion: eyes that are arrogant, a tongue that lies, hands that murder the innocent, a heart that hatches evil plots, feet that race down a wicked track, a mouth that lies under oath, a troublemaker in the family. (Proverbs 6:16-19) Solomon outlines for us six things God hates and adds just one more (kind of like the cherry on top) that God has some pretty serious feelings about (loathing).  Hate carries the idea of intense, passionate dislike of something.  Loathing carries a sense of disgust and gives one the idea that God is repulsed by the type of action he sees. Haughty eyes (arrogant eyes) - pride is a battle we must fight every day.  Any time we have a higher opinion of ourselves than those around us, we are probably dealing with an issue of pride.  Sometimes we need a "pulse check" from another we trust to see how we are doing in this area. ...