Christian Living
D-O-G Spelled Backwards
By Deanne Ruedemann
When my husband had suggested that our recent dog problem was supposed to have taught us a spiritual lesson, I had simply not wanted to believe it. In fact, I had been downright irritated that God would have done such a thing. I mean, wouldn’t it just have been easier for God to teach me the same lesson through a sermon or a few Bible verses during my quiet time? I saw no need for Him to have introduced dog wrestling or backdoor screen repair as some sort of object lessons to teach me about the importance of choosing to serve the Lord.
Okay, let me back up a little to tell you what had happened. See, a few weeks ago, my family and I had moved into our new (to us) house after having lived in a small apartment for the past six months. You can imagine the joy we felt in the new house with its space and peace, so what more natural thing could there be than to add a new family dog to this setting?
It didn’t take long to make the giant leap from the dream of a Lassie-esque dog hero in our new home, straight to the stark reality of not one, but two real dogs coming to live with us. Before I could barely utter the words, “down, girl, down!”, I was mother to two half lab/half shepherd sisters who had been described as “friendly and non-barkers at night” by their previous owner. I suppose that the “friendly” label had been correct, if you counted full body leaps on every person they met, but honestly the “non-night-barkers” description could only have been the truth had the previous owner been completely deaf. And to make things even crazier, the black dog continually tried to dominate her brown-colored sister to such an extent that I thought the brown dog would surely die of starvation since the black dog was eating most, if not all, of the food.
My previously peaceful household had gone from serene to insane overnight with the nights full of barking and backdoor banging. I’m not talking about simple door scratching, but full body slams to the sliding glass doors and what once had been a screen door. I have to admit that during all of this chaos, I did not immediately turn to Philippians 4:4 to “rejoice in all these things” (although later I did rejoice that my husband said we did not have to keep both dogs, but could give the more dominate dog away).
I was at the height of my stress level and sleep deprivation when my husband also suggested that perhaps dogs are here to teach us spiritual lessons from the Lord. I am pretty sure that my immediate response was closer to a high-pitched “what?!?!” than to a softer “yes, indeed, you are right,” but I later thought more about his comment and realized that he was right. [Marital relationship insight #1: Often your spouse is right about something, but it may take you a few hours to let this fact sink in before you will believe it.]
See, we had wanted one dog, but had ended up with two. Why? Because, without thinking of all the consequences, we had thought that we could handle two new dogs at once. And what had happened? When we had tried to put a leash on one dog, the other one had tried to jump on that dog, or if we had tried to feed both dogs, they had fought over the food. And trying to just get them both to come in or go out the door had been the closest I had ever come to losing my voice (from screaming) and my ability to walk (from nearly breaking a leg each time).
Later, after having given away the wildest dog and finally resting from the twenty point drop in my blood pressure, the spiritual lesson became clear to me. Both dogs had been competing for my affection, fighting to eat the food first, and fighting for which one could trip me up in the doorway each time I opened it. Two masters (the dogs), and one servant (me) had tried (unsuccessfully) to live in harmony. Far from harmony, we had lived closer to cacophony (for you non-music majors, that means NOTHING close to harmony!), or any other appropriate synonym for disharmony that you can find in a thesaurus.
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matthew 6:24 (NASB)
“. . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (KJV)
This is the verse that came to me after I had time to clear my thinking, and I had realized how the two dogs with two opposing natures had quickly consumed all of my energies. I had tried unsuccessfully to live peacefully with them both. It had been impossible to feed them both, to pet them both, to train them both, or to simply love them both at the same time. And that is why we had had to get rid of the more dominant dog. I had had to choose which dog to serve, and once that choice had been made and the one dog left our house, then peace had been quickly restored to our lives.
How many times have I not felt peace because of trying to serve God and wealth at the same time? Can I really know God’s peace when I become obsessed with my “stuff” (my house, my clothes, my food, my yard, etc) to the point that I spend more time thinking about it than I do in thinking about my walk with the Lord? Or what about the days that I spend more time watching TV than in spending time reading God’s Word or praying? Even the things I do that I call “necessary” can take over my life to the point of squeezing out any time for Jesus (remember Martha?).
I cannot serve God and wealth (materialism, worldly pursuits, vanity) without it creating confusion in my life. If I love my “stuff” or my flesh more than I love the Lord, then I will end up despising the Lord when He wants to take control of my life. But if I let the Holy Spirit direct me and I spend more time serving God, then I will begin to despise the worldly things that take away from a deeper walk with the Lord. Every day I make a choice to serve God or to serve mammon (the King James’ word for wealth). On the days that I serve God, I feel His peace, even in the middle of storms. But on the days I serve mammon, my spirit is troubled, and I become weary and discontented.
I want to challenge you to choose one master to love: Jesus. Be devoted to Him and despise anything that takes you away from a better relationship with Him. If you make this choice daily, He will give you the strength to walk with Him, and the peace………..
. . . of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 (KJV)
Copyright Deanne Ruedemann 2005
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