I grand dog sit often. I cannot even imagine having grandchildren. I might lose my mind. :o) I so enjoy keeping Brewer’s dog Sadie. She is sweet, loving, compassionate, smart and, most of all, she loves me:)
She follows me everywhere I go. She sits by the shower, sleeps in my closest and lays at my feet in my office. When she has had enough sleep, she is relentless with her tennis ball. She sleeps with it in her mouth. It is literally never an inch away from her being able to grab it and drop it at my feet, by my hand and, yes, on my computer keyboard. She makes me smile often and is great company. We have a great relationship…down to me taking her back to Brewer’s house and she would not get out of the car. Yes, she wanted to stay with her Grandma. :))))
As much as I love that dog, she gets into trouble often. Just the other day I came into the house and she was resting on the sofa. Thank God for Dyson pet vacuums. I was not happy. She hid her face and, yes, had that nervous flutter of her tail. It was not a wag at all. Her head was down. She would not look at me. She was so enjoying the sofa and she knew she wasn’t suppose to be on it!!!
The minute the door opened I saw her head pop up and she eased off the sofa…head down…tail fluttering. It was such a picture of how I feel when I immediately recognize my sin…words that fly out of my mouth that I wish I could take back…
the look of disgust I have given….
and the thoughts…..I can’t even write about.
I want to hang my head…run and hide….and, yes, tuck my tail. But in the middle of my desire to hide, if I stop long enough to think, I wonder, what does God want us to do???
Well, I compare it to how I feel about Sadie on the sofa. I love her. That hasn’t changed. Do I want her on the sofa? NO. Am I going to put her in the crate next time or give her some consequences to teach her not to get on the sofa? YES. But am I going to pet her, love her, play with her, talk sweet to her, defend her, walk her, and post proud pictures of her?!! Of course I am. She is my/Brewer’s dog and I love her!!
If you are a pet owner, you know your pet requires discipline and care but you love them, even when they frustrate the tar out of you. God loves us even though we fail miserably at times. If I were Him, I would get so frustrated with me but I know He desires for me/you/us to run to Him. He has “our balls”…purposes for us to accomplish. He wants us to wag our tail…or tuck it…but to COME TO HIM. Not run from Him and hide with guilt.
Satan tempts us to throw a blanket of guilt around us so that the remorse of our sin turns into a heavy guilt of shame that makes us run from God rather than to HIM. I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
KNOW THIS: God’s love is unconditional…not based on our sin.
Romans 6 explains how we are to not be caught up in sin but be alive in our walk with God. I won’t quote the whole chapter but here are a few good reminders:
(verses 1-2) “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
(verses 6-7) “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin.”
(verse 11) “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
(verses 21-22) ” But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
His desire is for us to turn from our sin. He wants to show us a better way…to teach us…to trust Him…so that we desire to obey HIM. God stands with open arms extended to us in the midst of our sin. He holds the “tennis ball” ready to throw it for us to chase….to live life in a way that makes our tails wag.
Point of post….it is simple…No sin is too big for God. He took care of that on the cross. Does he want us to seek to sin less? Of course. He desires for us to be shaped into His image and become more like Him every day. But we can’t do that if we are running from Him burdened and stricken with guilt. Don’t take Satan’s bait. RUN to God with your sin. Confess. Allow Him to wash His love and forgiveness over you….so that you can chase all the balls (accomplish the purposes He has for you) He wants you to retrieve for Him.
Romans 6:14, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”