(2 minute read) 10 year old Cody looked at the game in my hand and said, “No, this is pretty janky.”  The expression on his face told me that ‘janky’ is kind of not good, bad & undesirable. I’ve never heard this word before, but thank you Cody for introducing it to me.

The point is, new words and new terms ‘enter’ our culture and become mainstream. One new term slowly creeping into mainstream, in my opinion, is ‘it’s not illegal!’

‘It’s not illegal’ is a measure of an action, that’s the only applicable use of this term.

“Hey Carl, guess what, I needed to hire someone and I’ve been paying $22 an hour for this position. Simon interviewed for it, and actually he is a great and excellent candidate. I would have paid even higher than $22 an hour to get him. He made the mistake of telling me how desperate he is for a job as his family’s been struggling for months with him on unemployment. So I offered him $19 an hour and he accepted it. I saved big time man! Isn’t it great?”

Carl responded, “Well, it’s not illegal, and Simon accepted, so I guess it’s OK.”

Hope that you see that the term ‘It’s Not Illegal” dilutes, weakens, thins-out our cultural values for;

HONOR, CHIVALRY, BRAVERY, DECENCY, INTEGRITY,
GRACIOUSNESS, POLITENESS, HONESTY ………

Please think with me as to how would you use this term ‘it’s not illegal’ to benefit others, so I encourage you to think twice whenever you hear this term ‘it’s not illegal’.

My God and my Creator, legalism is something You addressed, talked about and preached on over and over again when You visited this Earth. Simply teaching us that it is not about holding up the Book to determine what is legal or what is illegal. Rather, we should search our hearts and do what You deem ‘Honorable’ ‘Decent’ ‘Honest’ ‘Sincere’ ‘Virtuous’ ‘Gracious’ as such attributes benefit others, my neighbor, rather than focusing on benefiting me. May we be able to apply these standards more and more in our daily lives and not be attracted by the benefits brought by the ‘it’s not illegal’ actions. Thank You my Lord for continuing to show Your Grace Your Sincerity Your Chivalry dealing with me daily. Amen.