Tag: Crooked

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Gravity don’t lie.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.” Amos‬ ‭7:7-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Full tilt and a bubble off!

This last vision Amos saw is so tame and cool compared to the other two before this. The first a swarm of locusts, a plague devouring everything. The second a raging fire sweeping across both land and sea. Also destroying everything. This third vision is so different! A plumb line.

How genius is this back in ancient days? We use a variation of plumb lines today with modern technology. Gravity don’t lie. Put a weight on a string and hang it from the top of a wall, fence or post and it will show you if the structure is straight, even or “plumb” as they say.

It would be odd to get into an argument about being straight when using a device like this. Someone may ask, “well, how do you know it’s straight?” Answer, look at the plumb line! They may argue, “well, how do you know if the plumb line is correct?”

Ah, a doubter of gravity eh? Gravity guarantees the weight hanging from a string, perpendicular to the object, is straight. Folks can argue all they want, choosing to question what’s straight or plumb, but unless they want crooked buildings, fences or posts they should line up their project to the plumb line.

God told Amos, He is the plumb line and the people of Israel, by their behaviors don’t line up! They are living crooked lives by giving and sacrificing to wooden poles and calling them god. The entire leadership of the country has gone wacky and God had enough of it. End of the line for King Jeroboam and the crooked priests feeding him nonsense.

What an object lesson! Amos, look for yourself, the whole bunch is BENT, broken, off kilter! God says, “I can’t ignore that.” When our lives are held up against a standard of what’s straight, what’s right, what’s good, we can clearly see we’re crooked! God is the standard, God is that plumb line everywhere and in everything. So, whether we’re leaning a little or a lot to the left or a little or a lot to the right, we’re still not straight compared to God’s perfection.

Prayer

Dad,
No arguments here. I know how good and perfect you are. I also know of your great mercy and grace to us. And, I know that the only one that stands perfectly straight next to this heavenly plumb line standard is Jesus! So I try to stand as close as I can to Him so that you see his perfection, his goodness, his righteousness. I am thankful for the work through Christ on our behalf.

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Honesty IS the best policy!

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“The Lord detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights. Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people.” Proverbs‬ ‭11:1, 3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Isn’t it interesting to think that the God of all creation is not just about truth, but also honesty.

Honesty is a characteristic of God? Truth has not only been divided and degraded it has also oddly been weaponized! But honesty, how is that going? Lying, or at least telling partial truth is crept into every part of our culture. Why? Because, people now want to play the games of hidden agendas and non-disclosures.

Honesty may invite more questions. Honesty may hurt feelings. Honesty may be embarrassing. The whole idea of dishonest scales in ancient times is like our modern day of “hidden fees.” And, back then it was common to rig the scale to make a little extra on the exchange especially taking advantage of the poor! The poor couldn’t do anything about it. They knew they were being cheated but risked being shut out from buying goods or food if they reported the owner.

Years back we had honesty in a lot of our work related phraseology. Honest day’s work. Honest pay. Honest wages. Honest business! Over taxation and complicated laws birthed a whole era of “under the table” and cash only earnings.

I also find it interesting that God is absolutely interested in the unseen, almost invisible behaviors of humans. Honesty and dishonesty is hard to spot, because it is built on trust. This is how reputations are made. This used to be how individuals and businesses would thrive. Hand shakes and humans that keep their word were valued and sought after. No one did business with “crooked” owners. Oftentimes, an owner or business became so dirty in their dealings that they ended up doing business with mafia and gangs just to keep their business afloat – but that comes with a horribly high price.

Bottom line, God HATES dishonesty because it’s is anti-God and it always takes advantage of the poor, the weak and the outcast. There are entire companies that PREY on senior citizens, on widows, on special needs people, even orphans! Whoa to these crooks, these politicians, these business cheats – God is watching and he will have his justice.

PRAYER

​Dad,
Even though I was a total creep in my youth when it comes to being honest, it now really gets me angry when I see people cheating or taking advantage of those who have no one watching out for them. I feel a sense of frustration with our government leaders who try to legislate care and protection for those at risk but end up creating horrible loopholes and drive the dishonesty even deeper and harder to spot and prove.

I feel like the church should be so much better at stepping in for the weak or disadvantaged, but we just don’t have our act together and folks just figure that’s what social or government services are now there to take care of. Government is horrible at care! Systems cannot love! Bureaucracy is not merciful or kind. Help us be better God.