His Measure Was Longer than His Neighbor's
By Mrs. O. A. Hall
A CERTAIN shopkeeper in China had for years been using a measuring rule that was short according to the standard. He measured off cloth for his customers, knowing, all the time, that it was short measure, but thinking nothing of it. One day, his conscience condemned him. He could find no peace of mind. So he slipped his measure up his sleeve, and cautiously stepped into a shop across the street, to compare his stick with that of his neighbor. He found his own to be longer by the fraction of an inch. He was greatly pleased, and went back to his shop to continue using the same old rule, flattering himself that he was a much better man than his fellow shopkeeper across the way, for even though his rule was short, it did not lack as much of being up to the standard as did that of his neighbor. The illustration is very apt, and leads us to think of the text found in Rom. 14: 12: "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." The standard is God's holy law, and not the lives of those around us. Whatever may be the faults of others, each must give account of himself to God.