A sway in perception.

I was listening to the radio as I drove to my accountability group meeting. I don’t even remember what the commercial was about but a small play on words jumped out at me.

“We drive on parkways and park in driveways.”

This seemingly simple oxymoron is indicative of how amazingly squed things have become. We no longer as a society even see the incongruent, because we drive on parkways and park in driveways. Black has become white, wrong has become right, Christian values are now politically incorrect.

Marriage is no longer till death do us part and our income is disposable, we want things in high definition or high speed and we tap our feet in frustration when things take a millisecond longer that expected.

As I thought about this sway in perception I have to shake my head and recognize that I still have the power to see past the incongruent and to say very simply NO!

We have the unswayable plumb line, God’s Holy Word. We can hold the incongruent up against the righteousness of pure truth and see the contrast between what is right and what is wrong.

But then what happens next?

It happens every day. The line shifts and what used to be unacceptable is now one step closer to being acceptable. We see it on television, the movies we watch and then it becomes more normal.

I have to remember to keep my eye on the plumb line, I also have to be willing to make a statement with my dollars and my remote as to what I will and will not support.

So here is the thing. It’s easy for me to not support certain products, Glade Scented candles for instance. It bothers me that the premise for their current round of commercials starts with a woman lying to her friends. It may seem like a non issue, but when a mainstream advertising company thinks that it is perfectly acceptable to promote their products with deception, that kinda bugs me! But in the grand scheme of things, not buying a glade scented candle does not impact my life in any real way, except for maybe saving me a few extra pennies.

A dear friend of mine has a saying, ‘When the rubber meets the road!” well I am having a rubber meets the road kind of experience. One of my favorites shows, Grey’s Anatomy is now launching a story line with two women openly exploring a romantic lesbian relationship. I know what I should do, but what I want to do is not what I should do.

Paul’s words ring in my ears….

RO 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

The world presses in hard around us.

We have to make choices every day!

I pray for the strength to make the correct choice and kneel humbly when I falter and seek forgiveness.

We have to keep a clear line of sight with the eternal plumb line.

It makes me sad, mad and tired!

I don’t like it when the world puts the cart before the horse.

So where does your rubber meet the road?