What Can I Get Away With?

Young Christians can throw you some real curveballs.  If you work with them very much at all, you better be on your toes.  One recurring theme is the “What if….” question.  You may be familiar with it.  It goes something like this:

-Me: “Based on this Bible passage, we should study Scripture.  Try to read some each day.”

-Young Adult: “What if I’m really busy every day?”

-Me: “Things have a way of taking up your time.  Try to set aside just 10 minutes.”

-YA: “What if I’m working 12 hour days and I’m really tired?”

-Me: “How much time each day do you spend texting or messaging?  Use some of that time.”

-YA: “What if…”

Yep, you know the routine.  It can go on and on.  The bottom line is that the person is trying to find excuses.  Excuses to avoid doing what needs to be done or excuses to do what shouldn’t be done.

We’re all guilty of it to some degree.  It’s part of human nature.  We want to push the boundaries.  We want to know what we can get away with.  

An old poem shows how we can nitpick God's law to get what we want:

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife,

His ox thou shalt not slaughter,

But thanks be to God there is no law

Against coveting thy neighbor’s daughter.

When we seek “escape clauses”, we look to the letter of the law rather than the intent.  Jesus criticized the Pharisees for this same type of overly-literal obedience to the Old Testament law.  When we ask “What can I get away with?”, we are asking the wrong question.

In the movie I, Robot, a hologram has information that can help Will Smith’s character solve a crime.  But most of the time, when Will’s character asks the hologram a question, the hologram responds, “You must ask the right question.”  Rather than ask how we can twist Scripture to fit our desires, the right question to ask is “Am I honoring God?”