Back in the day when I was growing up, we had lots of construction going on in our neighborhood. There was a particular instrument I saw with most of the masons and I always wondered what it was meant to do. Did it have magical powers? It looked so simple and yet it always seemed like with every stone they placed on top of the other they had to use it. Later on when I grew up, I discovered the tool was called a plumb line and its job was to ensure that what you were building was vertically straight. It set the standard.
Matthew 24:12 (AMP)
12 Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.
Many today are living life based on what they deem to be right in their own eyes, no wonder we have so much chaos in the world today. Every other person has his own standard and thus you will find that many lives are crooked and wicked simply because they created their own plumb line.
Amos 7:7
7 Thus He showed me [a vision], and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand [to determine if the wall was straight or if it needed to be destroyed]. 8 The LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.”
God’s word is the plumb line and without it then lawlessness will thrive because everyone will do what they see right in their own sight. The danger of that is that the bible tells us that the heart of man is exceedingly wicked so you can imagine the sort of standard we would set for ourselves.
God hates lawlessness and where there is no repentance then he will bring judgment because of the lawlessness. Jesus warned us that lawlessness will increase during these last days and because of that the love of many will grow cold.
You and I have to watch and pray. We have to be like the mason who constantly keeps checking what he is building with the plumb line so that he does not build something crooked. The Bible is our plumb line, it should be our constant companion as we build our lives and as we interact with others we should cross check with the Bible to see if we are building a straight or crooked life and where we see errors we should be quick to make adjustments.
