The Plumbline

  1-5  No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted.  But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness.  I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.  (Psalm 73:1-5) It is easy for us to envy the rich, the famous, the successful in society.  We see just one side of their lives, though - that which is public and which "appears" to be glamorous.  There used to be a show on called "The Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous".  When that show hit the screen in 1984, it was all that people could flock to see.  Robin Leach would end each show with his raising of a glass of champaign and his signature salutation, "Champaign Wishes & Caviar Dreams".   That show was one of our first glimpses at "reality television" in an era tha...

11-12 Don't bad-mouth each other, friends.  It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk.  You're supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it.  God is in charge of deciding human destiny.  Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others? (James 4:11-12) 22  Isn't it obvious that conspirators lose out,  while the thoughtful win love and trust?  (Proverbs 14:22) I present two passages this morning - one from the Old Testament, the other from the New.  Conspiracy is not something most of us would consider ourselves as being part of.  In fact, we probably think of that as something from a James Bond movie.  If we examine further, we will probably identify that "conspiracy" is a more common occurrence in our lives than we would imagine. To conspire means that we agree secretly to do something wrong.  It can be an agreement of just one, or many people. ...

  13-16 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats. (James 3:13-16) It is always good to have a "recipe" to follow - especially when you are trying to create something you are not familiar with.  The same is true in our spiritual walk - we have not walked this way before, so we need the "recipe" for how it is that we are to live.  James sets down a couple of important principles - contrasting the way we should live against the way we often ch...