Please recall that we have a new dog, and he is doing well. He tends to bark more than we like, but we’re making progress. Where we are NOT making progress is his desire to bark at and charge moving vehicles like the UPS truck. I had him on a leash once, and when he charged a truck, the leash caught him in mid-air. I heard myself saying, “NO! That’s a BIG NO!”

I don’t remember using that phrase before, “a BIG NO,” but I got thinking about it. If we’re walking, and the dog goes a bit too far into a neighbor’s hard, I might say, “No…come back.” That’s not a big no. That’s a “Bob’s preference” no. If he goes a couple feet too far, it won’t hurt him or anything else.

But if he jumps into the path of a truck, he could be run over. A BIG NO. A couple of days ago, he attempted to attack a deer. That wouldn’t have ended well for either of us! Another BIG NO.

Do we know the difference between a BIG NO from God and a little no that we made up? For example, DON’T commit adultery. That’s a BIG NO.

With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. (Proverbs 7.21 – 23, NIV, emphasis mine)

I grew up in a little-no environment: no movies, no dancing, no card-playing, for example. We often heard more teaching about those than any important BIG NO from God. Jesus called out the Pharisees of his day for mixing up the little nos and the BIG NOs:

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” (Matthew 15.1 – 9, NIV)

The message is simple: we need to be sure not to let little nos crowd out BIG NOs and… BIG YESes!

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. (Matthew 23.23, 24, NIV)

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3.18, NIV)