Think About It

Every once in a while, someone will come up to me and ask me for my opinion about a biblical passage. Sometimes, when this happens, they are looking to develop a better understanding of a passage that is difficult for them, but other times they are looking for a loophole. Advice is said to be something that we seek when we know the answer, but don’t like it. All too often, when we know what we should do, but don’t really want to do it, we begin looking for ways to excuse our behavior and if we can find a “legitimate” way to accomplish it that’s a win for us (like asking the preacher for his advice). Now, while it might seem like I am critiquing people looking for scriptural workarounds, the more pointed part of this discussion has to do with the advice-giver rather than the one seeking input. You see, sometimes to come off as being either friendly or insightful, we will over-analyze a passage and tweak it so that it doesn’t seem as black and white as it should. We, too, look fo