Articles
Don't Get Alligator Arms
Don’t Get Alligator Arms
In a new Geico commercial, a group of coworkers are at a restaurant. When the waitress drops off the check, everyone reaches for their wallet, but they’re interrupted by a coworker at the table. It’s not really a man though; it’s an alligator dressed in a shirt and tie. He says, “Whoa! Whoa! I got this. I just have to reach the check.” Everyone watches unenthusiastically, as if for the 5th time that week, as this alligator with tiny arms rocks back and forth trying to grab the check but always falling short: “All…most…there.” Finally, someone else says, “I got it,” and actually follows through.
There’s a Greek word in the New Testament, “anypokritos.” It means, “without hypocrisy, unfeigned, undisguised, sincere.” People get “alligator arms” not because they can’t reach the check, but because their offer is insincere. They want credit for the offer without the cost. One of the things Paul said commended him as a servant of God was “genuine (anypokritos) love” (2 Cor. 6:6). Peter said our souls have been purified for a “sincere (anypokritos) love of the brethren” (1 Peter 1:22). Do you ever get alligator arms? Do you offer things insincerely with the hope your offer will be turned down? Would you rather people think you’re generous than actually receive your generosity? If so, God knows what’s going on. Eventually, people will too, and we’ll be like the alligator no one takes seriously. Next time we say, “I got this,” let’s make sure we mean it.
