I heard of a company that, in order to cut costs, started cutting back on their products, reducing sizes and volumes. (You’ve probably seen evidence of other companies doing that-we’re paying more but getting less in some cases.) The problem was that one of this company’s products was a twelve inch ruler. Since they had made an across-the-board decision that every product had to be downsized, the ruler could not escape the chopping block. Not wanting to make too drastic a change, it was determined to trim one-half inch off the length of each ruler (to save money) but to squeeze the markings together to make it look like it was still twelve inches long. Because, after all, who would want to buy an eleven-and-a-half inch ruler?
The story reminds me of what man has done with the word of God. God’s word is our ruler (our authority in all matters), except some (for a variety of reasons) have tried to trim it down here and there to make it fit their doctrinal needs or lifestyle budgets. However, just like twelve inches is still twelve inches (no matter what we do), God’s word remains the same.