Rationalizing Disobedience

Have you ever found yourself explaining to God why your disobedience made sense?  I thought about this recently after a conversation with my grandson.

When I put him to bed, I took the TV remote out of his room so that he wouldn’t be tempted to turn on the TV and watch it instead of sleeping.  I got up the next morning to find the TV on, the remote on the floor and him sitting with the game controller in his hand.  He took one look at my face and said, “Grandma it was a live event.”

Not being a gamer, I didn’t know what that meant, so my husband took over.  He explained to our grandson that it didn’t matter what was going on, he had been sent to bed and was expected to be sleeping.  To which our grandson again said, “but it was a live event”.

Frustrated, my husband said. “I don’t care, did you sleep at all last night?”.  Our grandson looked down, and mumbled “it was live”.  He was clearly fixated on the idea that his taking the initiative not to miss a “live” event was somehow worthy of consideration by us, his grandparents.  It wasn’t. 

Like our grandson I think we sometimes get stuck muttering rationalizations that we insist that God should take into consideration when looking at our sin and our disobedience.

• But it’s just the culture; everyone else is Ok with it.
• I was raised this way, so it’s hard to change.
• My situation is difficult; I can’t be expected to do it the Godly way.

Whatever the rationalization, we repeat it over and over again when we are confronted.  We read something in the Bible that is convicting, so we pull out our rationalization. We hear a sermon that pokes at us, again we can defend against it with our rationalization.  Holy Spirit illuminates our sin and shows us clearly we are in error; we whip out that handy rationalization again.

It didn’t work for our Grandson, and it doesn’t work for us with God either.  He doesn’t say, “Ah, now I understand why my Word is for everyone else, but you are the exception.  Thanks for explaining it to me.”  He continues to, require obedience.
 
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.  1 Samuel 15:22

I know that sometimes obedience feels like a sacrifice, but God’s word says that it is actually better than sacrifice.  It tells God that we trust Him; it tells God that we trust that He is looking out for us and we believe that the distress we feel in obeying will yield a reward.

Our grandson after crying because his remote control and gaming remotes were all removed and he was told not to get out of bed until we told him he could, feel asleep (within 20 minutes).  He slept for 5 hours then woke up refreshed to start his school work.  He would have been miserable all day had he not gotten proper sleep and would have probably earned some form of discipline due to his emotional dysregulation due to his lack of sleep.  With proper sleep, he had a good day and was able to enjoy school with his peers.

When we obey God’s commands, we position ourselves to enjoy the opportunities that he opens up for us later in life.

​Can you identify your go to rationalizations that mute God’s voice?  Can you hear yourself saying like our grandson “but it was a live event” in the face of being confronted by God’s word.

​In the end it really comes down to this choice.
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.”  Deuteronomy 11:26=28
 
Sometimes rationalizations are why we struggle to balance our professional and personal commitments.  If you feel you have blind spots about your rationalizations, let's talk and identify them so that you can walk in obedience.