The Gospel of quality
By Keith Williamson Special to the Sentinel

John's title is quality control and he works

where I do. His job is to prevent bad manufac- tured parts from going to customers. It is an important job. Sending out enough junk would cost us our job.

John constantly stresses the importance of good workmanship and attention to detail. He does more than asking in a polite way for good work to be done. That is not his style. Instead, in a loud voice he proclaims at the beginning of the day, "I'm here again preaching the gospel of quality!"

Occasionally he quotes the beginning part of Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death." This emphasizes there is a penalty to be paid for not doing something the right way.

I cringe when I hear this. Romans 3:23 goes through my mind. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Being an imperfect person like all of us are, one day I will make a mistake and face the wrath of John.

I have already prepared my defense. After being told the wages of sin is death, I will tell him, "John 1:14 says Jesus came 'Full of grace and truth.' The truth is I have done a bad thing. Could you give me some grace?" I doubt this will do me any good, but it sounds good.

It will be bad to face John in the midst of my failure, but facing God one day with eternity hanging in the balance will be far worse. Loss of your job may be painful, but another can be found. But when it comes to facing God with eternity hanging in the balance, you only get one shot.

How is your quality control concerning eternity? A man who was rich and had followed all the rules was not willing to sell everything and follow Jesus. He went away sorrowful not willing to do what it took (Mark 10:17-22). His quality control failed the test.

Billy Graham once said, "People in this country know a lot about religion. They know just enough not to get the real thing." Don't be like that. Make sure when that fateful day occurs you'll be ready to pass the test.