We’re always looking for loopholes.
Oh, maybe not me, and maybe not you, but humanity makes looking for loopholes a prime part of each and every day. See if we recognize these: We fudge our speed up a few mph if we don’t see a police car in our mirror. We eat a piece of our spouse’s candy and spread the remaining around so she won’t notice. We pour the cheap mouthwash into the brand-name bottle rather than visit three stores to find the real deal.
There are some loopholes that are perfectly legal. The IRS offers valid and well-known ways to avoid paying a part of our taxes. We only need to take advantage of them. Other ways to avoid taxes? We’re bending the rules to do so, and we hope the auditors are busy that year and don’t notice.
Loopholes are also why we have so many lawyers. Jeff Jacoby at The Boston Globe says there are 1.22 million lawyers currently in the United States. Whether in divorce cases, tax fraud, or murder trials, they’re looking for loopholes to either imprison or free their clients. Some loopholes are legal; some not so much.
How do we measure up with God? Do we look for loopholes for our errant behavior? Recently posted on Facebook, this tag says it all: If we have to cover it, hide it, or delete it, we probably shouldn’t be doing it. Let’s see how some of our behaviors compare.
Leviticus 11:1-47 says:
“…These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Nevertheless, among those…”
Legal loophole. We have a list of what we can or cannot do.
Genesis 3:1-7 says:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say…’ ”
Illegal loophole. We are twisting God’s words to mean what we want them to mean.
Genesis 1:29 says:
“And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.’ ”
Legal loophole. Any plant whose fruit produces seed is ours to consume.
1 Timothy 5:23 says:
“No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.”
Illegal loophole. This is not our excuse to be a drunkard.
1 Timothy 3:8 says:
“Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.”
Legal loophole. We want our leaders to be held to a higher standard as an example we can follow.
Leviticus 2:13 says:
“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.”
Illegal loophole. We can’t write checks and leave the footwork of God to someone else.
Exodus 34:22 says:
“You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.”
Illegal loophole. This is not our excuse for debauchery in our partying.
Genesis 3:2 says:
“And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.’ ”
Illegal loophole. Dealing with the devil never brings truth, even when our actions stay within the letter of the law.
If we need to call up a lawyer when dealing with the devil, maybe we should fall back on that now-familiar axiom: If we have to cover it, hide it, or delete it, we probably shouldn’t be doing it.
If we twist God’s words, we twist the truth. Twisted truth is not truth at all.
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