One of the most profound lessons in life that I learned involved a fishing kreel and the story is as follows.
I loved fishing for native Brook Trout in Northwestern Pennsylvania when I was growing up as a kid. The legal length of the fish had to be at least 6 inches. I used the tape measure on the side of the creel to make sure it was a keeper. As the years went by, the material the creel was made of shrunk. One day I took notice of the side of the creel and realized the tape measure had also shrunk. The 6 inch mark was now only a hair over 5 inches. I shuddered realizing that if a Fish Warden had come upon me while I was fishing, that I was in deep trouble. The Fish Warden would do the measuring according to his tape measure, not mine. I could make all the excuses I wanted, but none would matter. I WAS GUILTY.
Another story is when I was on the mission field building a house in Balti, Moldova. I manned the cutoff saws down on the ground. My workmates would shout down exact measurements of the boards they needed. If my measuring tape did not match theirs exactly, could you imagine what the outcome would be?
Both of these examples reflect what has happened to our world because we have abandoned God’s tape measure, the Bible, to rule our lives. Gay and abortion issues, along with political and religious views have gone haywire. Man has turned to the devil’s tape measure instead.
One simple verse sums it all up of the only way we can get back on track:
But Jesus answered the devil, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:4 ESV)
When we die, the only tape measure that will be used is God’s!
Annointing 