August 17, 2007 Proverbs 11:1

08/17/2007

Proverbs 11:1, 16:11, 20:10 (NIV)

The Lord abhors dishonest scales,
        But accurate weights are his delight.
Honest scales and balances are from the Lord;
        All the weights in the bag are of his making.
Differing weights and differing measures –
        The Lord detests them both.

When you go to the grocery store and ask for a pound of ground beef, do you ever wonder if the scales are accurate? When the cashier weighs your produce, who checks to make sure the scale is right? Did you know that there is a national agency that determines and dictates accuracy with scales and weights? The Weights and Measures Division, one of the longest running and best known programs of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), promotes uniformity in U.S. weights and measures laws, regulations, and standards to achieve equity between buyers and sellers in the marketplace.

But in days of old, scales and weights were not so closely regulated. The accuracy (and equity) of scales rested, to a large degree, solely on the merchant. You have seen the type of scale that would have been used; it is a crossbeam with two suspended platforms. A weight would be placed on one side and on the other side, a measure of grain or other item. It would be very easy for the merchant to cheat a buyer by using inaccurate weights.

While the verses above talk mainly about equity in the marketplace, I believe we can apply the principal to everything we do. In our jobs, we are paid for a given amount of work. Do you give your employer the full value of labor for which you are being paid? If a cashier gives you too much change, you should do the right thing and give it back. If you were the cashier and your job rested on your accuracy, wouldn’t you want honest customers in case you make a mistake?

While we buy and sell with no thought as to the accuracy of the scales, we know that the Lord wants us to be fair and honest in all our dealings.

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