An Equal Measure

MacGillicuddy was reading in his Bible, in the book of Proverbs. He read, "Differing weights and differing measures -- the LORD detests them both."

"Wow! Detests! That's not very good!" MacGillicuddy said to himself. "But I don't understand what the Lord hates!"

"Hey! Momster!" MacGillicuddy called out. His mother poked her head into his room. "Hey! MacGillicuddy!" She called back. "Next time, instead of just yelling for me, why not come and find me, Okay?"

"Okay!" agreed MacGillicuddy. "Sorry about that, Moms, but I had a question about the Bible here."

"Well, I am glad my monster son is reading his Bible, but that certainly doesn't excuse rudeness." said Mrs. Monster. "Now, what is your question, Mac?"

"It says here that God detests 'differing weights and differing measures.' I know that 'detests' means 'hates' but I don't know what differing weights and measures are, or why God hates them!"

"Oh! Well, that's not too hard, MacGillicuddy. You know how your father takes some of the tomatoes he grows each summer to Mr. Greyrock, the grocer?"

"Sure, Moms! Mr. Greyrock weighs the tomatoes and then pays Pops, depending on how much his tomatoes weigh."

That's right Mac. If your Father brings in two hundred pounds of tomatoes, then Mr. Greyrock gives him one hundred dollars. But what if Mr. Greyrock didn't like your father, and used a scale that didn't work right when your father came in? What if your father brought in 200 pounds of tomatoes, but Mr. Greyrock said it was only one hundred pounds. Then he would only give him fifty dollars instead of one hundred dollars."

"But that wouldn't be fair!" cried MacGillicuddy. "That would be cheating!"

"Exactly, MacGillicuddy!" That's what the proverb is about. In a way it means that God hates cheating. When we cheat someone else, it is like stealing from them."

"Ohhh!" said MacGillicuddy. "I know that the ten commandments say 'You shall not steal.' I guess that's why God hates cheating, because it's like stealing!"

"You've got it, Mac!" his mother smiled. "That's what that proverb means. God detests using different measures, because that steals from people."

Mrs. Monster left the room, and MacGillicuddy decided to go outside. He saw his best friend, Mayhem, and ran over to him.

"Hey Mayhem! Let's practice our Long Leaps!" MacGillicuddy loved doing Long Leaps. He would run as fast as he could, and then jump into the air and try to stay in the air as far as he could. When he landed they would measure from where he took off to where he landed.

Measuring the jumps was easy. They got two long sticks. Mayhem's was a little longer than MacGillicuddy's so they broke a little off until they were the same length. MacGillicuddy measured Mayhem's jumps, and Mayhem measured MacGillicuddy's jumps.

Both MacGillicuddy and Mayhem were pretty even at Long Leaping. MacGillicuddy had longer legs and could jump higher, which helped him go farther. But Mayhem could run very fast, and that helped him go farther, even though he didn't go as high in the air.

MacGillicuddy's first jump was 6 sticks long! He was very proud of that jump. "Ha! Ha! Mayhem! I bet you won't be able to jump that far!"

Mayhem took his first jump and MacGillicuddy measured it. It was also six sticks long! MacGillicuddy just couldn't believe it! Mayhem just smiled, "See, Mac? I can jump just as far as you can."

MacGillicuddy said, "Oh, I'm just beginning. Just wait to see how far I can jump."

All morning long they jumped. Sometimes MacGillicuddy jumped a little farther. Sometimes Mayhem jumped a little farther. Sometimes they both jumped the same distance. MacGillicuddy was starting to get a little frustrated. He thought that since he was so much bigger than Mayhem, he should be able to jump farther. They took a break to rest, and agreed to make ten final leaps and add them all together. That would show which was the longest leaper.

While they were resting, MacGillicuddy had an idea. It wasn't a very good idea, but MacGillicuddy was so frustrated at not leaping farther than Mayhem, he just didn't care. When Mayhem took his next leap, MacGillicuddy picked up Mayhem's measuring stick and broke a big chunk off it. Now it was shorter than MacGillicuddy's measuring stick. That meant that when Mayhem measured MacGillicuddy's Long Leaps, it would take more stick lengths to measure the leaps, because it was a shorter stick.

Mayhem took his first leap, and MacGillicuddy measured it, six and one half sticks long. Then MacGillicuddy took his first leap, and Mayhem measured it. It was seven sticks long! That was the longest leap all day! Mayhem could hardly believe it, because the leap didn't look that long to him. He measured it again, but it came out the same, seven sticks long.

Mayhem took his second leap. It wasn't very good, only five sticks long. When MacGillicuddy took his next leap, he tripped a little bit. Mayhem was sure that this would be a short leap. But when he measured it, it still came out as six sticks long. Mayhem couldn't understand it.

They each took leap after leap, and measured each other's leaps. When they were finished, after ten leaps apiece, they added up all their leaps. MacGillicuddy's total score was 67 sticks long. Mayhem's was 59 sticks long.

"Wow! MacGillicuddy! You really beat me!" said Mayhem. "I didn't think that your leaps were so long."

"Yeah, I guess I did pretty well," agreed MacGillicuddy. But MacGillicuddy didn't sound very happy.

"What's the matter, MacGillicuddy?" asked Mayhem. "You don't sound so good!"

"Well, I guess it's because God must not be very happy with me now," said MacGillicuddy.

"What do you mean?" asked Mayhem. "You know that God loves us. The Bible says so!"

"Yeah, I know. But I was reading in the Bible today, and it said that God hated 'differing measures.' That's like cheating. And when we were doing our last jumps, I kind of cheated. I made your stick shorter than mine so that I would win. Since God hates cheating, I guess he must not like cheaters much either."

"You cheated!?" squeaked Mayhem. "That wasn't very nice!"

"I know! I'm sorry! I know now that cheating like that was wrong!"

MacGillicuddy turned to Mayhem, "I'm sorry, Mayhem. It's like I stole the contest from you. It wasn't fair. I don't want to steal from you. You're my best friend! Please forgive me!"

Mayhem nodded. "Okay, MacGillicuddy. But boy, I sure hope you don't do that again."

"I won't," MacGillicuddy said. "Let's have our contest again. Only this time, we'll use only one stick for both of us. That way there can't be a different measure."

"Sounds good to me," answered Mayhem. But you'd better jump awful far, or I'm really going to stick it to you!"

MEMORY VERSE Proverbs 20:10 Differing weights and differing measures -- the Lord detests them both. Proverbs 20:10 MacGillicuddy learned that cheating is a kind of stealing, and that God does not want us to cheat at all! That means we should not cheat at games we play, or in school with our school work either. MacGillicuddy didn't enjoy winning his contest because he knew he didn't really achieve anything. It's more fun to accomplish things fairly than by cheating.