You come in contact with this almost on a daily basis. Every time you pump gas or buy fruits and vegetables weighed at the register there is a sticker from your friendly Florida Department of Agriculture. They inspect the systems that measure to make sure they measure accurately anything that is sold commercially. According to their website, the state standards of length, mass and volume are directly traceable to the national standards maintained at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. So, while every state maintains the standardized units of measurement, they are also maintained on the national level. Why is this important you ask? “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight” (Prov. 11:1). “Differing weights and differing measures, both of them are abominable to the LORD” (Prov. 20:10). It is clear that God does not like an unjust scale, and the state of Florida has that under control. What does this have to do with me?
We have been given a standard of measurement and have been charged with the task of handling it correctly. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Placed within your hand and heart is the word of God and with it the responsibility of handling this unit of measurement correctly—to not add to or take away from the message of the book (Rev. 22:18-19).
With that in mind, have we ever acted unjustly in how we measure righteousness? Or how we measure the actions of others? Or how we measure and draw out the plans for the church? Or how we meter out love, forgiveness and grace? “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you” (Matt. 7:2). “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:15). It can be easy, because of our own desires, to set a secondary standard that is either above or below the standard that God has already set. In this, we can err.
In Leviticus 19:34-35, we read this exhortation, “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.” As if to say that one way they could love their neighbors as themselves is with just weights and balances. One way you show love to those around you is by practicing justice and truly measuring by the standard of God, not some arbitrary standard that you have set up. We must use this on a daily basis.