right and wrong

This weekend I travelled to Philadelphia with one of my daughters, to help her move into a different place.  She is sharing a home with two other young ladies and we needed to shuttle boxes and furniture out of storage and into the new home.  As we lugged items out of one basement I thought about one of the most basic things common to all houses, regardless of how old or new or style of architecture.  I thought about the need to make walls truly vertical and floors truly horizontal.  Builders use levels to ensure that floors, walls and ceilings join in 90 degree angles (called 'right angles').  If even one edge is off it throws off the whole construction process because the other edges won't meet properly.  Of course this is true for doors as well.  If the doorway is not framed squarely, the door will not hang or open properly.  But if the lines of the house are true then all the corners meet and the parts come together to join properly.  I thought about the fact that only one angle is a right angle...exactly 90 degrees.  Even one degree of error throws everything out of kilter.  I like the name 'right angle' because it is the only right angle for proper construction.  A house formed of anything but right angles would probably give a visitor headaches or vertigo because we are most comfortable when corners point straight up and floors mimic the horizon.  It would be very unsettling!  Something in our nature can rest when we are surrounded by trueness.  It's ok for the outside world to roll in uneven hills and valleys.  In fact, that variation addes interest and creates the beauty that we hunger for.  But we like for our homes to have flat floors and corners that stand ramrod straight.  Likewise, we are most secure when our internal life points true to heaven and outward in level dealing with the world.  This kind of living doesn't happen automatically.  We need the help of the Master Builder to check the plumb lines of our thought life and the sincerity of our outward reach to others.  But when all is true then the corners of our lives begin to join with others and we are at peace and our lives fit up well next to others.

 

Ephesians 2:²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith