The Plumbline

There is a call in scripture to "live appropriately".  To some, this may seem a little like it is open to interpretation - as though each life can pick and choose what is appropriate for them.  I think we need a better standard than our own whims and fancies, though.  This is why God left us with scripture to be our guide - because he knows our tendency to not only blaze new trails, but to die trying!  Scripture simply gives us a set of "established principles" by which we are to fashion our choices and live out our actions.  Whenever we pick and choose which portions we will align with and those which we will just ignore, we are failing to use all the armor we are given as warriors of Christ.  It is like going out without underwear!  We know we are missing it, but we hope no one else will know! You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer no...

I have moments in time when I just manage to say the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.  Notice - I said I have moments when I do this - nothing is less consistent in my life than the words I speak!  I don't think I am in this boat alone, though - I have some pretty good "rowing companions" alongside! The right words at the right time are often words of healing, or wisdom into a matter which has been difficult to figure out.  They are like the first drops of rain on a parched desert floor.  So how come we don't speak them more often?  I think it may have to do with our "consciousness" of what we actually say and how we say it.  Most of us speak, then hear what it was we said, and sometimes find ourselves mortified by what we just said!  If we could just get the pattern reversed so we hear our words before we speak them, we might just find our words are a little closer to what we really desired to say when we say it. The right word a...