The following is reported to be a true story that says a lot about
Japanese products and their quality standards.
It seems that IBM
decided to have some parts manufactured in Japan as a trial project. In
the specifications, they specified that they would only accept three
defective parts per 10,000.
When the delivery came to IBM, there
was an accompanying letter: "We Japanese have a hard time understanding
North American business practices. But the three defective parts have
been included and wrapped separately. Hope this pleases you." The
Japanese company gave IBM what they specified -- three defective parts
and 9,997 good parts!
I wonder, how many defects are we willing
to accept in our spiritual lives? "Yes, I know there's some greed and
gossip and lust, but three defects per ten thousand is still
acceptable!" Is our goal as Christians to get our "defects" down to an
"acceptable" level, or is our goal to get rid of them all? I know, I
know, we'll never achieve that level of perfection in this life. But
what is our goal? How much sin are we willing to tolerate before it
becomes "unacceptable"?
"What shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who
died to sin live any longer in it?" (Rom. 6:1-2)
"My little
children, these things I write to you that you may not sin." (I John
2:1a)
That's our goal! May you be satisfied in your spiritual
life with nothing less than striving to follow the perfect example of
Jesus Christ himself.
Alan Smith
Innisfil, ON, Canada
