The Plumb Line of God

We are living in a wide untested place of human opinion about God and His Kingdom. Some of those opinions have not been measured according to the measurement of God. In some instances, lesser and misaligned concepts of what is true and straight are being used creating a misaligned Church.

As the prophet Amos was receiving words from the Lord, one of those words employed the use of the word “plumb line.”

“Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall 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’” (Amos 7:7-8).

The word “plumb line” means “to be narrow.” The narrowness is something that produces a measurement perfectly straight up and down. To obtain that perfect alignment requires a very narrow and precise measurement. Once the plumb line is in place, the Lord will test His people according to that measurement.

When Jesus lived and rose from the dead, He became our plumb line. The Lord has been set along the walls of our personal lives and what we have been called to do for Him. No human can be so perfectly aligned as the Lord. While that goal is impossible for any of us to accomplish, the Lord did it for us. He is our measurement – our plumb line. To test the integrity of what we are doing for God, will require the use of God’s plumb line to ensure we have not been misaligned by our preferences, sin, or misunderstanding.

An alignment is taking place within the Church. Aligning our lives and calling without first measuring it according to the life of Jesus Christ will be called into question by the Spirit. The seasons of aligning and realigning God’s people and His Church are not easy. It will call into question our motives and any sin we have allowed to remain. When the plumb line of God has been placed along our lives, once the Lord has finished His work, what remains will be aligned perfectly with His narrow interpretation of what is true and right.

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins

Featured Image by Ron Porter from Pixabay

About the Author

Garris Elkins is a Kingdom Winds Contributor. He and his wife, Jan, serve the global Church through writing, speaking, and mentoring. They live in southern Oregon, tucked away in the foothills of the Rogue Valley. Their shared desire is to have each person learn how to hear the heart of God and become a transforming voice in their culture.

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