Many lawbreakers on trial for their crimes hope that legal loopholes can be found to keep them from being punished. If they have enough money, they gladly pay for the services of attorneys who can discover those escape hatches for their clients.

The search for loopholes takes place outside the courtroom as well. For example, the June 3, 1995, issue of the Spectator carried an article titled, "Even God's Law Has Loopholes." It tells about a rabbi in Jerusalem who devises ingenious ways of enabling himself and others to circumvent Old Testament law and Jewish traditions. The rabbi insists that he isn't trying to help his clients disobey the law. He says, "God's law is perfect. If God left a loophole, there was a reason. We are allowed to use it."

In Matthew 23, Jesus spoke out against religious leaders who skillfully twisted the laws of God to their own benefit. What would He say to you and me? Do we sometimes look for loopholes in the plain teaching of Scripture to excuse our disobedience to God and lessen our sense of guilt? Or do we prayerfully follow the example of the psalmist, who declared very simply, "I keep Your precepts" (Ps. 119:100).  — Vernon C. Grounds