Sometimes you find truth in unexpected places. In 1950, American statistician and engineer Edwards Deming went to Japan.  He was a missionary of sorts, but his mission was for business, not God.  Deming is the father of a concept called Statistical Product Quality Administration (SPQA).  The philosophy was simple: businesses would improve and compete if they designed better products that didn’t break as often, had assembly lines that produced higher levels of uniformity in products, improved product research and testing, and sought foreign markets for sales.  All of these things seem obvious to us today, but they are only obvious to us because Edwards Deming made them obvious by his life’s work.                                Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

In 1950, nobody in American business would listen to Deming or heed his SPQA method.  Post-World War II Japan was another story.  The country bought into SPQA wholeheartedly, and Deming is largely credited as the catalyst for the economic miracle that catapulted Japan from a nation in ruins in 1950 to the world’s second-largest economy by 1960.  Though SPQA is not a biblical tenet, it gave rise to a business practice that I find to be quite evangelical: Just-In-Time manufacturing. 

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The notion of storing God’s word in your heart got me thinking about Just-In-Time manufacturing.  My graduate degree is in Procurement and Acquisitions Management, and supply chain management was a big portion of my study.  Supplies are basically anything you keep on hand before you need it.  To keep shipping costs low while minimizing real estate devoted to storing materials, a manufacturer must synchronize delivery of materials as close as possible to the moment they are needed to assemble a product.  For example, if you need five tons of ice cream per day at your ice cream sandwich factory, you lose money for every day that you have to refrigerate any excess ice cream not used to make a sandwich.  Get it?

Storing God’s word in your heart is a lot like running an ice cream sandwich factory.  Ostensibly, like the ice cream, you are storing God’s Word for a purpose.  Psalm 119:11 gives one such example: so that you won’t sin against God.  According to the Psalmist, having God’s word on hand, stored in your heart, produces the effect of not sinning.  I like that idea.  But I also realize that it is difficult to memorize and store a great deal of rote knowledge so that it can be effectively recalled when needed.  What if we used a Just-In-Time method to store our scripture?

Psalm 119:11 gives one reason to have scripture on hand, so we can avoid sin in our life.  The great commission gives us another (Matthew 28:16-20): to reach the world in salvation.  If we were to apply the concept of Just-In-Time to scripture storage, we would always have a fresh scripture on hand when we needed it in order to witness.  Just-In-Time scripture comes from daily study and renewing your mind in God’s Word.  Imagine the effect of having fresh scripture delivered to your heart every day.   Truly, you can only keep so much material in storage before you have to start using it or giving it away. 

Deming is known as the father of the quality manufacturing movement, but I assure you the quality of your walk with God can only improve the more you hone your scripture supply chain. 

I have been procrastinating writing a blog for months.  I’ll ask you not to scroll down to my last blog to do the math on just how long it has been.  So without further ado…

Speaking of beloved 90’s sitcom “Mad About You,” (a bad transition is better than none at all)  I have been lingering in the book of Deuteronomy in my year through the Bible read and every time I crack the Book open to Deuteronomy, I can’t help but think of “Mad About You.”  “Why on earth?” you might ask.  Well, one of the recurring characters on the show was Uncle Phil, played by one of the greatest comedic actors of the last -- well, ever -- Mel Brooks.  In one episode, the main couple in the show, Paul and Jamie, (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt) find out Uncle Phil is dying.  In an act of kindness toward dear old Uncle Phil, Paul promises to name his soon-to-be born child after his uncle.  The only problem is “Phil” is not Phil’s real name -- his real name is Deuteronomy.  Did I mention Phil is Jewish?  This always made me giggle (the name not the Jewish thing). 

The word Deuteronomy is derived from a Greek compound word deuteros nomos, which means “second law.”  The name suggests that there are two sets of law.  There aren’t two sets of law in the Bible, just the one. The name is confusing.  Deuteronomy is really a retelling by Moses of the Law found in Leviticus.  The book contains the majority of Moses’s sermons found in scripture.  Moses gave these sermons to a group of Israelites who either weren’t born yet or were very young when God dragged Israel out of slavery by the hand.  You may remember that shortly after leaving Egypt, Israel failed to enter the promised land because they did not trust that God would protect them.  Moses gave the law a second time to remind Israel of the greatness of the God they serve, so they would not fail to enter the promised land for a second time. 

We serve the Great God of the universe!  Like Israel, we need to hear that a second, third, fourth (and on, and on) time.  Deuteronomy chapter five is almost a word for word recounting of the Ten Commandments.  Great preacher’s tip from Moses -- if you got it right the first time, don’t mess with the format on your next delivery.  I was struck by how much time Moses spent on commandments one through four and how little was devoted to commandments six through nine (murder, adultery, stealing, lying).  It is really no surprise, because the first commandments are devoted to man’s response to the living God, and the last six are devoted to how we treat one another. 

In the very next chapter, Moses said these are the commandments of God, but there is a greater commandment still, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut 6:4-5) This command became a prayer known as the Shema.  It was recited daily by every Israelite, and is still recited to this day by practicing Jews.   When was the last time you loved God with all of your might?  This is good preaching.  Moses first laid out the scripture that they all knew (the Ten Commandments), then he said, “Ok the point of all of that is, GOD loved you more than you can conceive, so you love Him back with every fiber of your being.”  I think if we are being honest with ourselves, none of us really do that, and that is what has been missing from our worship, our service, our prayers, our very lives.  God gave us everything, and everything is all He wants from us in return. 

At Element Colorado Springs, we strive each week to remind you of the greatness of God, by sharing God’s truth found in His Word.  I can only imagine what it must have been like to sit under the preaching of Moses as he delivered this book to the people.  We certainly know the result: Israel was given a spirit of conquering and their hearts turned to God and His promised land.   When the most religious people asked Jesus Christ what the greatest commandment was, he simply quoted Deuteronomy chapter 6 and Leviticus 19.  He said a prayer that Hebrews from age 3 to 99 recited daily, “The greatest commandment is to love God,” and the other is like it, “love people.”   I suspect when God Himself gives it to you that straight, the effect is pretty powerful.  For a little perspective, the first time God gave them that law on Mount Sinai, Israel feared that if they were in His presence any longer, they would die.  Now God the Son stands in their midst, gives them the law, and they mock Him for it. 

Whoa, that got real heavy there.  You don’t need to beat yourself up over how you continue to fail God.  Just ask yourself, “did Jesus die for that sin too?”  The answer is yes, so repent, trust that His salvation is sufficient, and that He made you a new creation that can put one foot in front of the other and start loving God.  That is my simple plan.  God is amazing! Not only did He love us enough to die in our place, but He made us able to love Him in return.  And bonus, He probably won’t ask you to name one of your kids Deuteronomy.    

Blog over.  I won’t dilly-dally so much on my next installment.