Whats the deal ?

A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
	Proverbs 11:1
Measuring was done with weights and balances. The problem is, people would use one set of weights when they were buying and another set when they were selling. Every day, the farmer delivered a pound of butter to the baker. But the baker began to notice that the pound of butter was becoming smaller and smaller and smaller. “My goodness,” he thought, “I’m being systematically cheated.” So he reported it to the town constable. The baker and the constable went to the farmer’s farm, where the farmer was accused of shortchanging the baker. “But the butter I give him weighs one pound,” the farmer insisted. “What are you using for a weight?” the constable asked. “The baker’s one-pound loaf of bread,” the farmer stated. Thus, the baker was caught in his own trap. It’s interesting how we try to connive to get the best possible deal. That’s the tendency of the human heart. But the Lord doesn’t reward such a tendency. To Him, manipulation is an abomination. This doesn’t only apply to our own businesses or lifestyle, but to spiritual things as well. You see, there’s something that far outweighs our sin and failure: a little tiny piece of bread and cup of juice. If you’ll come to the Lord’s Table and receive what He did for you on the Cross, you will find that whatever sins you’ve been involved in, whatever stuff you’re struggling with, whatever things you’re bogged down by will be far outweighed by His righteousness. A just weight is the Lord’s delight. And we are just that because of what Jesus did on the Cross (Romans 3:26). Pastor Jon Courson

Love will prevail

Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
	Proverbs 3:30
“Don’t strive with a man for no reason,” Solomon says. But, as always, it is Jesus Who gives us the final word when He said . . . Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Matthew 5:38-41 It’s not practical to turn the cheek, to give the coat, to walk the extra mile. But the genius of what Jesus is saying is that the person who refuses to fight back is actually the person in control of the situation. The teachings of Jesus are radical. Entire societies change when people embrace them. The subcontinent of India was changed simply because Mahatma Gandhi understood this principle. Although he was not a Christian, he embraced the reality of what Jesus taught. Had the Indians fought back, the British would have wiped them out. But the British themselves were defeated by a force more powerful than they: the force of love. When your friends, parents, children, coworkers, or neighbors strike out at you, you have a choice to make: to strike back or turn the other cheek. Don’t worry about getting walked on. You’ll actually see the release of a greater power. Love will prevail. Pastor Jon Courson