Jean Coleman's Blog - Posts Tagged "choices"
A DOG'S TALE
It's amazing how many spiritual lessons you can come across in the funny papers of the daily newspaper. In a recent comic strip I was reading, the family dog is out in the back yard and has tipped over the garbage can. He has managed somehow to get the lid off and has pulled out all the contents of the can. Rancid food and trash are scattered everywhere and the dog is rapidly devouring every edible tidbit that he comes across.
In the second panel, his mistress spots the mess the dog has made and comes running out of the house in a rage. Shaking her finger at the dog, she gets the message across to Bingo that he is in big bad trouble. The words she is speaking are not recorded, but it is obvious what is being conveyed. "You have been a really bad dog! You know you aren't supposed to eat garbage! Don't you ever let me catch you in the garbage can again!"
The dog hangs his head in shame and with his tail tucked between his legs follows his owner back into the kitchen. He is chastened, but somehow you get the impression that he isn't really repentant. With a scowl, his mistress gets his bowl and a can of dog food out of the cabinet. "This is what you're supposed to eat," she explains in no uncertain terms. "Why would you ever want to eat that smelly old garbage when I pay seventy cents a can for this premium deluxe chunky beef?" She sets the bowl on the floor in front of the dog, continuing her lecture as she fills the bowl with the dog food. "Here! If you're so hungry, then you can eat this!" Turning on her heel, she stomps out of the kitchen leaving the dog with the bowl of food. Bingo sniffs the premium deluxe chunky beef and then lies down next to the bowl with the food untouched.
In the final panel of the comic strip, you are allowed a glimpse of what is going on in the dog's mind. His thoughts are back on the pile of smelly old garbage. You can see him drooling with delight as he imagines feasting on yesterday's leftovers. What a foolish dog!
Yet as I pondered the comic strip, I realized that people can be every bit as foolish as this stubborn dog. Mankind often seems to prefer the garbage of this world to the meat of the word. People choose daily to feed upon a diet of trash when they could be partaking of the Bread of Life. God gives what is necessary for spiritual health and growth, but men and women continue to long for the defilement of the world. They turn up their noses at God's provision which has been purchased at such a great price, and instead lust after x-rated moves, sordid novels, drug trips, sexual immorality, alcoholic binges, alternate lifestyles and abortions. The invitation of the Master to "come and dine" goes unheeded as they indulge in hate, bigotry, greed and pride.
But then, that's the nature of unregenerate man. There's something about man's nature that draws him to things that are corrupt and rotten. That's why we must be born again. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!
In the second panel, his mistress spots the mess the dog has made and comes running out of the house in a rage. Shaking her finger at the dog, she gets the message across to Bingo that he is in big bad trouble. The words she is speaking are not recorded, but it is obvious what is being conveyed. "You have been a really bad dog! You know you aren't supposed to eat garbage! Don't you ever let me catch you in the garbage can again!"
The dog hangs his head in shame and with his tail tucked between his legs follows his owner back into the kitchen. He is chastened, but somehow you get the impression that he isn't really repentant. With a scowl, his mistress gets his bowl and a can of dog food out of the cabinet. "This is what you're supposed to eat," she explains in no uncertain terms. "Why would you ever want to eat that smelly old garbage when I pay seventy cents a can for this premium deluxe chunky beef?" She sets the bowl on the floor in front of the dog, continuing her lecture as she fills the bowl with the dog food. "Here! If you're so hungry, then you can eat this!" Turning on her heel, she stomps out of the kitchen leaving the dog with the bowl of food. Bingo sniffs the premium deluxe chunky beef and then lies down next to the bowl with the food untouched.
In the final panel of the comic strip, you are allowed a glimpse of what is going on in the dog's mind. His thoughts are back on the pile of smelly old garbage. You can see him drooling with delight as he imagines feasting on yesterday's leftovers. What a foolish dog!
Yet as I pondered the comic strip, I realized that people can be every bit as foolish as this stubborn dog. Mankind often seems to prefer the garbage of this world to the meat of the word. People choose daily to feed upon a diet of trash when they could be partaking of the Bread of Life. God gives what is necessary for spiritual health and growth, but men and women continue to long for the defilement of the world. They turn up their noses at God's provision which has been purchased at such a great price, and instead lust after x-rated moves, sordid novels, drug trips, sexual immorality, alcoholic binges, alternate lifestyles and abortions. The invitation of the Master to "come and dine" goes unheeded as they indulge in hate, bigotry, greed and pride.
But then, that's the nature of unregenerate man. There's something about man's nature that draws him to things that are corrupt and rotten. That's why we must be born again. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!
