Use Honest Scales

USE HONEST SCALES HONEST WEIGHTS, AND HONEST MEASURES. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt. Leviticus 19.36.

We were starting a kindergarten. We got the place all done up, including the air-conditioning. The place was insured because it is the routine thing done in business. But we were in for a big surprise; someone broke in and stole all the air-condition units. The first thing friends told us was, “It must be the people who installed your units!”

Dishonesty in business is rampant in every country and in all societies. “Honesty is the best policy”, they say. But today, the accepted philosophy in the marketplace is, “One cannot survive in business unless you practice lying, cheating and crookedness!”

Sad to say, we Christians too have mostly accepted this ‘new age business ethics’ and many have taken it as a matter of course. The only difference between you and the non-Christian businessman or professional is that he cheats ‘without a conscience’ while you cheat ‘against your conscience’. But as time passes, you too begin to practice all the deceptive ways of the business community. You too lie, cheat and rob with impunity. Your conscience has become immune to the inner voice of God. Your principles and practices made you ‘compromise with the Word of God’ at first. But now you are ‘blatantly breaking the Laws of God’. And still you consider yourself to be a good Christian in the marketplace! You are even witnessing for Christ to your business associates who are non-Christians, with a genuine concern for their souls to be saved from sin and hell.

How do I know these things and why am I writing about them? The simple and genuine reason is that I too am in the marketplace as a medical professional, facing the real problems of survival as a Christian businessman! I need not tell you about the great many complaints against doctors and hospitals of malpractices, overcharging and even cheating the sick and vulnerable!

The good old days of honest professional practice or business dealings are gone forever. The madness of making money for the sake of excessive luxury and incredible wealth has necessitated the price hike of everything necessary for life. Just to graduate from a university today you need up to a few hundred thousand dollars and to become a doctor, the cost may reach more than half a million! You and I have to make enough money to afford these essentials and much more if you go for the luxuries of life. The vicious effect is that, from the labourer to the landlord and the trader to the professional, all have escalated the price for their services and commodities. The pity is that every one complains against the other and no one is happy!

Having explained how we got into this mess, there is one thing we Christians should be absolutely careful about. You cannot violate God’s unchanging Laws and standards of conduct. All of you who are in the marketplace, listen to the voice of God in today’s text and obey it, “Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. Obey all my laws and all my rules, and live by them”. The reason, “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt!” (vs 36,37). It is in His power to prosper you without your having to cheat and rob others!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You are the One who brought me out of all my wants, needs, sadness, suffering, sorrow, pain and loss! It was not by cheating for crookedness. Make me honest in all I do. Amen.