Deuteronomy 25:15 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.

I was a mechanical inspector for a number of years. I became the leading authority on positional tolerancing. That is far more complicated than merely saying build to print. The use of the design dictates the tolerances required. The tolerances dictate the inspection method. The inspection method dictates the measuring tools.

From an inspectors standpoint there is no such thing as perfect. Man has yet to make anything perfect. There is however a zone of tolerance established by its maximum material condition and its minimum material condition. As long as the product surfaces remain within those boundaries, the size, shape, and straightness are irrelevant. The product is deemed fit for use.

If you are wondering how this fits in the Kingdom of God, allow me to explain. The basis for tolerance is use. We who sit in the congregation can be deemed to self-check as prescribed in 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. No one is examining your life for out of tolerance conditions until something breaks. You determine rework and repair based on your own experience.

Pastors, preachers, elders, and teachers must be examined to determine a fit for use condition. The inspection to positional tolerancing has a standard and a method for examination. An out of tolerance condition is not acceptable. They are not perfect. All they have to do is fit within that tolerance zone established by design.

This is not about striving to be holy, faithful, gracious, loving and kind. We all should strive to be conformed. It is that you should not have to worry about being inspected for conformance on a personal level unless you are up for promotion.

Romans 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

How’s that working for you there Job? Sadly I can see myself in exactly that spot alongside Job. I did not want to see it, but once again, I must confess my sin. I get to do that in an open forum because that is where I serve God.

Three times this past week I have written devotionals that held agendas. I was passionate about what I saw and like so many of us, I was about to set things right. It was only by a good conscience that I felt something was wrong in what I wrote. I sought wise counsel, I prayed and I deleted the files.

That wasn’t enough. Three is the number of man, and if I repeat a behavior at least three times, then it is time to examine cause and effect. What within me was causing this repeated behavior? So I sought the Lord to understand agendas from the human perspective.

We see injustice every day. We have our hearts pulled towards compassion for victims. We want change because nothing that is being done seems to make things better. If I idly stand by and do nothing, am I not part of the problem? In the end, if you look to the issue of taking up agendas, it is about justifying myself.

Being a Kingdom dweller and a servant of the most High God puts me in an area of responsibility to which I must look to God first. I do not get to have the luxury of self-indulgence. I don’t get to make this all about me. My failing isn’t about what I see or in what I feel. My failing was in that I didn’t take it to the Lord first.

2 Samuel 22:31 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

I failed to hold it all together because I stopped trusting God.