Doggone
September 1, 2006
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.” — Romans 13:14
I’ve been a hunter nearly all my life and have hunted just about anything you can imagine. I remember as a youngster, how frustrating it was to hunt birds in the south Texas brush country, down a particularly tough shot, only to lose it in the scrub. It was not until many years later, I learned just how valuable a good dog was - you could almost always up your chances of success! Almost always, that is.
Later, when on active duty, I was stationed in Nebraska and ran into a guy who had purchased a dog to help him hunt pheasants (a truly challenging bird). But he discovered that the dog would willfully range off on his own, paying no attention to my friend, who even used a remote-controlled electronic obedience collar on the hard-headed animal. So instead of hunting pheasants, this fella spent his time in the field chasing after his dog, who refused to heed His master. Finally the hunter decided he had better leave the dog at home. Dog gone.
What a great picture of St. Paul’s words in Romans 7. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he wrote, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (v.15). St. Paul was talking about the conflict between his old sinful tendencies and the new creature Christ made him when he was born again. And we have a big lesson here. If we don’t take our spiritual life - especially temptation - seriously, we’ll be like the hunter. We’ll find ourselves doing what we don’t want to do and failing in our real purpose for the Kingdom.
Certainly, our hunter solved his problem by taking decisive action. He equipped himself for pheasant hunting and went out without his expensive, but distracting dog. That’s what we must do in our spiritual life. As we prepare for and live each day, we can choose to obey the injunction, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:14). And the thing is, beloved, this is a moment-by-moment decision, regardless of what comes our way. The choice is ours - continually. What will we do?
The answer is simple enough; we make Jesus Lord, rely on His strength, and put Him first in everything, then we’ll be able to reject the evil impulses that arise within us. That’s how we “leave the dog at home.”
Grace and peace,
Chip+
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