DRIVING THROUGH LOOPHOLES

A police officer asked a driver if she knew why he had stopped her. “No idea!” she said in surprise. “You were texting while driving,” the officer told her. “No, no!” she protested, holding up her phone as evidence. “It’s an email.”

The law says people can’t text while driving; but that doesn’t mean there is a loophole that allows them to email! The point of the law isn’t to stop texting, but to stop distracted driving in general.

Jesus accused the religious leaders of His day of coming up with even worse loopholes. “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God,” He said, quoting the command to “Honour your father and mother” as evidence (MARK 7:9-10). Pretending to be religious and godly, these greedy leaders were ignoring the needs of their families. They simply said their money was “devoted to God”—and ta-dah!—suddenly they didn’t have a penny to spare to help out Mum and Dad in their old age. Jesus quickly got to the heart of the problem. “You nullify the word of God by your tradition,” He said (V.13). They weren’t honouring God; and they were dishonouring their parents.

Rationalising our own selfishness can be subtle. We can be so quick to avoid responsibilities, explain away selfish behaviour and apply the Bible’s commands to others rather than ourselves. If that sounds familiar, then maybe we should spend some time asking God to help us change. Jesus offers us the opportunity to swap our selfishness for love, willingness and the strength of His Spirit so we can follow His good ways.

To pray about . . .

Dear God, I need Your help to live in a way that is genuine, kind and loving. I am so tempted to be selfish and excuse myself from looking out for others. Help me to live in step with Your Spirit of love, truth and holiness.