diff --git a/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp b/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp
index bd78f1b..137f4e3 100644
--- a/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp
+++ b/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp
@@ -83,15 +83,12 @@
             std::cerr << "syntax error in " << jsonPath.string() << "\n";
             continue;
         }
-        /*
-        * todo(james): reenable this once less things are in flight
-        *
-        if (!validateJson(schema, data))
+
+        if (ENABLE_RUNTIME_VALIDATE_JSON && !validateJson(schema, data))
         {
             std::cerr << "Error validating " << jsonPath.string() << "\n";
             continue;
         }
-        */
 
         if (data.type() == nlohmann::json::value_t::array)
         {