Goldie made a decision. She flat out decided to do something wrong. I don’t care what anyone says, the dog (Goldie) knows right from wrong. I had left the house earlier and when I came back the first time the dog looked guilty, but I was in a hurry and only had time to tell her she was the “best dog in the world” and leave again. I came back to the house much later and found that the garbage can (the same can I had poured some dry cat food in earlier that morning) had been tipped over and Goldie had dug and dug in it until she, no doubt, had found every speck of cat food and ate it.
Now, you may be wondering why I’m throwing away purrfectly:) good cat food, in short, the cats won’t eat this certain cat food. It was the cheapest food I could find at the store one day, and because they wouldn’t eat it by itself I ended up having to buy better food and mixing them both together. (I was still trying to get the cats to eat the cheap food:) You know how when you were a kid and you would pick the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms? Well, that’s what the cats are doing with the food, picking out the good cat food and leaving that bad stuff behind. I don’t fight it anymore, I just throw away what they leave, because if they aren’t eating it, there must be something wrong with it.
Anyway, the dog knows better than to get into the garbage...(there’s history on this with her, believe me:o) She knows better, but, for some odd reason this dog chose to do exactly what she knew was wrong. That got me thinking...(ru roh), aren’t we, as humans, a little like that with God? Don’t we know better than to go “garbage picking?” Don’t we know that if something is thrown away, we probably shouldn’t have it? The ONE who knows all things said “no.” Why do we do what we know we shouldn’t do? Why do we go where we know we shouldn’t go? Why? Why can’t we just trust God and follow His rules? I was thinking about the dog and my first thought was, well, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, she can’t help it. That’s just wrong because someone who doesn’t know also doesn’t look guilty when they get caught. She knew alright. She’s hiding right now as I write this. She knows.
Unfortunately, there are consequences, both to the dog and to us when we disobey a direct command. For the dog, well, I won’t elaborate, suffice it to say, eating cat food for a dog is a little like eating mexican food when you aren’t used to it:) at least that’s the way it is with Goldie:(Which means I may be up in the middle of the night tonight letting her outside..... uugh.) Her choice has now affected me! For crying out loud, why couldn’t she have done what was right and been rewarded instead of choosing what was wrong with consequences that affect others? For us, the consequences are also undesirable and, depending on the “choices” we make, can be life altering.
The next time you and I want to go garbage diving, let’s remember the power of this choice to obey God that Jesus purchased for us on the cross. We don’t have to follow our nose right into the garbage can of sin, we can choose to do the right thing, which will save us from guilt and an upset (spiritual) stomach, we won’t be dragging others into our world of consequence and most importantly, by choosing to do the right thing we will please our Master who ultimately knows what’s best for us.
In Christ we have THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. Romans chapter 6
Big D (dh) 1.09
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