Looking for loopholes

Oh, how I love your law! I think about it all day long (Psalm 119:97).

People are always looking for loopholes in the law. Some lawyers make a career out of getting convictions overturned based on a technicality. Not that long ago, the nation of Israel passed a law that allows patients to be euthanized by computer. You see, Jewish law prohibits doctors from ending a patient's life for any reason; so in order to "pull the plug" on a terminally ill person, they have decided that it breaks no law if life support shuts down in response to a timer. Technically, the doctor did not end the patient's life--rather, a machine did it.

When I heard this story on the news, I just shook my head. How can the person who programmed the machine to shut down be considered exempt from the law prohibiting mercy killing? A machine only does what a person sets it up to do. But the medical establishment in Israel is satisfied that they have found a loophole that allows them to break the law without being held responsible.

This is only one example of what we all try to get away with. We justify our lies by thinking that we are really protecting someone's feelings by keeping the truth from them. We make excuses for speeding by claiming that less time on the road means more time at home with the kids. For us, the ends often justify the means.

Jesus tells us that there is no difference between intent and action. In Matthew chapter five He said, You have heard that the law of Moses says, `Do not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.' But I say, if you are angry with someone, you are subject to judgment...You have heard that the law of Moses says, `Do not commit adultery.' But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. In Jesus' day, many prided themselves on keeping the letter of God's Law, even though they did not honor its intent. To them Jesus said, Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matthew 23:27).

God's laws are perfect--there is no reason to try and find loopholes in them (unless you are trying to get away with sinning). God's laws teach us how to honor the Lord and support each other; they were given to us to improve the quality of our lives. We should treasure God's laws for the wisdom that they offer us; we should be prompted to tell God: Oh, how I love your law!