“Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Deuteronomy 25:13-15). Many of us find it all too tempting to have in our bag a diverse set of weights and measures with which to judge the world. Many of us struggle to give equal consideration to people from different categorizations, whether they be race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, educational level, socioeconomic status, and the list goes on and on. We might pull out a different measuring stick as soon as we find out what kind of music they like or which is their favorite sports team. If we are dragging along a great big wheelbarrow filled with all kinds of scales and rulers to judge all the different groups of people for whom we have or don't have respect or tolerance for, we are going to get exhausted. Isn't it better if we just have one measurement system by which we weigh and measure everyone? And by everyone we have to include ourselves. It does no good striving our best to afford grace and compassion and understanding for the rest of the world meanwhile we are keeping our own separate scale to weigh our own worth, only it's a scale that always comes up short. But which scale do we use? How do we decide which set of standards to apply to the whole world when we are all so different? We use a perfect and just measure given to us by the Lord. The lovely thing about turning to the Lord is that even when we come up short, God can lengthen our measurement. He can make up the difference. Everyone, including ourselves, can measure up under the perfect and just measurement, so long as we allow the Lord to stretch and lengthen us through repentance and the forgiveness of the Atonement.
