I’m a guy. This means I have a genetic defect which prevents me from properly matching colors. It wasn’t a big deal when I was a single man. I was perfectly comfortable wearing only black, white and various shades of gray.

It does become a hindrance, however, when you have a little girl – or so I’m told. I think Chloe got a little bit of her color matching skills (or the lack thereof) from me.

The other morning Amy had Chloe sitting on the bathroom counter, looking at her clothes and comparing them to an array of hair bows. Chloe pointed to a pink bow and said, “I want to wear that one,” but Amy refused. She explained to Chloe that she had no pink in her outfit.

Chloe pointed to her skirt and said, “These flowers are pink.”

Amy peered at the flowers for a moment before saying with finality, “No. Those flowers are red. The bow won’t match them.”

In response, Chloe offered what I thought was a rational solution: “I’ll pretend the flowers are pink, then the bow will match!”

Unfortunately, Amy was not as taken with Chloe’s logic as I was. She refused the request, found a bow that matched and put it in Chloe’s hair.

Chloe’s words stayed with me the rest of the day. It occurred to me that Chloe’s idea about the flowers matches what a lot of people think about sin.

“I’ll pretend my sin is acceptable, then God will make it OK!” Rather than seeking God’s will and matching their actions to it, many people want to establish their actions as the rule and make God’s will match what they’ve already decided they want to do.

However, that logic is just as flawed as Chloe’s. And God is just as unwilling to accept that logic as Amy was. Pretending that sin isn't sin doesn't make it so. Pretending that you're justified in its commission doesn't mean you are.

The Pharisees didn’t understand this. In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus says they appear to be righteous, but on the inside they are “full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” The Pharisees acted in a decidedly ungodly manner, then perverted the intent of God’s Law in order to justify the sinful actions they’d already committed.

Jesus wasn’t fooled. He wasn’t fooled by the Pharisees when they did it, and he isn’t fooled by us when we do it.

Let us remember that we don’t set the standard, then demand that God follows us. Rather, he sets the standard and we must follow him.

Parrish Myers is a local minister. His column appears biweekly in Sunday Life and at gainesvilletimes.com/life.