What is your plumb line? Who do you measure yourself against? Amos 5-9

Amos 7:8 (NASBStr)

The Lord said to me, “ What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold I am about to put a plumb line

In the midst of My people Israel.

I will spare them no longer.

I am not a builder.  In fact, the truth be told, my family hides tools from me.  They either laugh or run if I suggest I can fix something.   It will typically cost me twice as much if I try to fix something myself.   This is especially true if I were to build something.   In my youth, however, I was not nearly as aware of this character flaw as I am today.   I remember trying to construct a small room in my garage.   Fortunately someone came over and fixed it.    Nothing was straight and nothing was level.   In our above text God provides us with a picture to capture our understanding of what was happening in Israel in Amos' day.   Nothing was straight and nothing was level.   A plumb line in construction (so I am told) is a weight on the end of a string.  You hang it from above and the weight makes the string taught and straight.   You then build you wall even with that plumb line.   What God is saying is that God and His Word were the plumb line for the nation of Israel.  When compared with God's plumb line the nation came up crooked.  They did not measure up to the standards God has set for them.   For other references of the same indictment see also:  2Ki 21:13; Isa 28:17; 34:11; La 2:8.   The point God is making is that He sets the standards for His people.  He will measure them according to His Word and if they fail to be even with His standards He cannot spare them.   We tend to compare ourselves with the world around us.  If the world around us is okay we tend to think we are okay.  As long as we aren't like them we think we are straight.   However, the standard for God's people is holiness.  God is holiness and God's infallible and inerrant  Word.  The standard is not my neighbor.   I might look good next to some of societies worse, but when God is the standard I fail.  That is why we need Christ to stand in our stead.  He is our righteousness and He measures up to God's plumb line for us.   By faith we can rejoice in the fact that God is the standard in us and for us.   Don't compare yourself to the world around you.  Compare yourself to the holiness of God and allow Him to fulfill it in you and through you by faith in Christ.