Some things are so good you wish no one had ever invented them. Like Moosetracks ice cream, for example. I confess that I’m a borderline Moosetracks addict. Many evenings, as I’m parked on the couch reading or watching T.V., the sirens begin their enticing song: “Moosetracks … you want Moosetracks, Mary Ann … you know you do … Moosetracks … Moosetracks …” And yes, sometimes I succumb.
I can picture myself out at the Betty Ford Clinic in California, the trendy place where trendy people go to shed various and assorted addictions.
“What are you in for?” the cocaine-snorting actress next to me in therapy might ask.
“Moosetracks,” I would answer.
“Wow, that’s tough,” she’d reply, looking down and somberly shaking her head.
I know I should just refuse to buy the stuff. But doggone it, the stores keep putting it on sale. Buy one, get one free – who can resist that? It’s a conspiracy, I tell you, concocted by the makers of ice cream, exercise equipment and plus-size clothing.
Recently, my husband was involved in a weight-loss competition at work. All the participating employees were assigned to weight-loss teams, and my already trim husband was determined to help his team win. Joe crossed cookies and ice cream off his list of acceptable food items and tried to get the rest of us to hop on his bandwagon.
Trouble is – we just plain didn’t want to ride.
Joe presented some good arguments about why we should stop stocking our pantry and freezer with sweet stuff. But his arguments were falling on deaf ears. My boys looked at him like he’d lost his mind; I launched into a pious speech about the Pharisees and putting our whole family under some kind of hideous, burdensome law, when God obviously wants us to freely enjoy all the good things He has made … probably and especially Moosetracks ice cream.
While I may definitely have been guilty of using scriptural principles to justify my own cravings for ice cream, I do think I made a few valid points.
I have seen the same basic principle at work in churches when well-intentioned folks full of zeal become convinced that everyone else should share their personal convictions. I’m not talking about issues clearly addressed in Scripture, but those “gray areas” where Scripture is silent … but God’s people seldom are.
God deals with His children personally. Sure, there are universal no-no’s we need to heed, but sometimes God may prompt me to stay away from some activity that is absolutely okay for you. He knows me and knows what I can and cannot handle. But if God tells me “no,” I always seem to want Him to tell you “no” too. And if He won’t tell you, by golly, I will.
That’s what the Pharisees were all about, and it really ticked Jesus off. In fact, he said this about those old lawmongers: “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.” (Matthew 23:4)
Jesus told his followers to beware of the Pharisees. They were dangerous, misrepresenting the heart of a good and gracious God, speaking where God had not and turning personal convictions into burdensome laws.
Guess what? They are still around in our churches. They might not have Moosetracks on their breath, but they likely have quite a crust around their proud, pious hearts. And nobody wants what they have – especially a lost world yearning to find a better way to live.
Open your heart to God and honestly live by your convictions. Please give me room to do the same, Moosetracks and all.