Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash
Dear Saints and Forgiven Sinners,
You may know I was an engineer long before I became a pastor. As an engineer, I’m interested in tech that makes life easier – but not necessarily “high tech”. The Simple Machine – the six machines upon which all other machines, from wheelbarrows to jets, are made up of is what fascinates me. One of those Simple Machines, the lever, ends up making a more complex machine, the scale which is used to balance things out enabling accurate measures needed for science and fair trade.
While a scale is a great way to ensure fairness and accuracy, it can also be misused to hide unfairness and inaccuracy. Unscrupulous merchants can make a scale seem to give a good measure while actually cheating the buyer out of their money, giving them less than they think they’re getting. God’s word calls this practice “stealing” because it makes people think they’re paying for a pound of flour even though they’re only getting fifteen ounces – or less! Unfortunately, this isn’t an uncommon practice and God calls His people out for their sinful behavior of “making the ephah (a weight) small and the shekel (money) great and dealing deceitfully with false balances (scales).” (Amos 8:5) Poor people were being cheated by the wealthy (Amos 8:4).
God calls on His people to deal fairly, use honest scales, with others. However, there is one scale that is decidedly unfair … tipped unfairly to one side versus the other. It’s the scale of God’s mercy. In fairness, God’s word says our sin, any of it, is only balanced by death (Romans 6:23), our death. However, in the mercy of God, instead of us paying the price of eternal death for our sins, as we justly deserve, Jesus died on the cross in our place. Through Him, the scales of eternal justice are tipped in our favor … our sins are forgiven so we receive eternal life. For the many times we use unfair scales, bringing sin upon ourselves, God mercifully rebalances them in our favor because of Jesus.
Your Brother in Christ,
Pastor Jim