The prophet Amos wrote about something called a plumb line. A plumb line is a construction tool used by builders. It uses a weight attached at the bottom of a rope or string that employs gravity to provide a straight up and down measurement. Once aligned, a builder can construct perfectly aligned walls on a construction project.

While Amos was having a series of visions, “He showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using the plumb line to see if it was still straight” (Amos 7:7).

As the vision developed, the Lord asked Amos, “What do you see? I answered, A plumb line. The Lord replied, I will test my people with this plumb line.” (vs. 8). The Lord was testing the wall to see if it was still straight in the process of building.

In the Old Testament, the plumb line referred to the Law. If the nation of Israel did not live following the Law, they would be misaligned with the purposes of God. 

In the New Testament, we no longer use the Law as our plumb line. Our plumb line is Jesus. He came and died for us to become a perfect sacrifice. No human apart from Jesus could live such a perfect life. To rightly follow the Lord requires that we understand no one is saved by any attempt at human perfection. Only Jesus could live in such a way and only Jesus can provide the way of our salvation.

When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, He was referring to how we should attempt to live by following His truth and example. Part of the goal of the Sermon on the Mount was to reveal how impossible such a goal is apart from our dependence on God’s mercy. 

As I read through the Sermon on the Mount, I asked myself a question, “Am I willing to try to live this way?” even though my attempts repeatedly fail.  Am I willing to continue to align myself with Jesus, the ultimate plumb line of my spiritual life, even though my attempts often fail?

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord listed many things that will test our willingness to keep coming back to His plumb line to realign ourselves once with Him and not give up. Jesus addressed major life issues in the Sermon on the Mount like anger, adultery, divorce, revenge, and loving our enemies. All of this is impossible to achieve in our strength. Only by returning to Jesus after we fail in these areas is a second chance possible.

When Jesus began teaching the Sermon on the Mount, He laid out His reason for the sermon, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose” (Matthew 5:17).

Only when we are willing to realign our lives with the plumb line of Jesus will we discover the purpose of why the Lord came into this world.  That purpose is for Him to reveal His mercy in a world filled with failing people, just like us, who need a second chance. That second chance is only possible when we are willing to realign our lives with the plumb line of Jesus Christ.