FROM THE PULPIT: DO WE RETURN TO SIN, LIKE A DOG TO VOMIT?

Pet owners should bathe their dogs occasionally. It helps keep Fido clean and healthy, taking care of his skin, or those pesky fleas and ticks. How often does one bathe their dog? With us, necessity dictates. We have a big, black lab named Ebony. Ebony likes to occasionally wander off and find a dead animal carcass (or something equally rank) to roll around in and "perfume" herself up. That's when it's time for her shower!

"A dog returns to its vomit," and "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." (2 Peter 2:22)

How often are we like my dog Ebony, who as soon as we are "cleaned up" from sin, immediately return to it? We do something wrong, chalk it up is a "learning experience," swear to never do it again, then, sooner or later, end up doing the very same thing again!

I remember on my 18th birthday, one of my friends was able to procure some alcoholic beverages at the liquor store. We celebrated a little too much, and I came home intoxicated. The next day was Saturday, and I had to get up at 6:00 A.m. like usual to get to work on the farm. That day we were moving cattle, which involved some running I didn't feel like doing! I knew that would never happen again-- but it did. (In case you're wondering, that was before I committed myself fully to living for God. Since I began reading God's Word daily and praying, over 20 years ago, there has been no problem with alcohol).

Today, I sometimes succumb to worry, fear, or acting apart from God's guidance. These departures from the life of faith may be something you too are familiar with. In spite of knowing better and our best intentions, we just can't seem to "get it right." We may become discouraged and think, "What's the use of even trying? I can't ever seem to do better."

The apostle Paul wrestled with this very thing, "I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing ... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:18-19,24)

The very next verse provides the answer. "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25) We cannot change ourselves. But that is the beauty of our faith. The Bible teaches that, though we are helpless to do good, God is willing and able to do good in us and through us. In fact, his desire is to recreate us in His very own image, in the likeness of Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:29) This is God's work. (Philippians 1:5) Our work is to believe God. (John 6:29)

Ebony used to have to be carried into the shower to get cleaned up. Now, she knows that unless she gets clean, she can't come in the house. So she willingly walks into the shower. She trusts that when I am through washing her, she will be able to enjoy companionship with us in the house again.

When we trust God to "clean us up," He will. He gives us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) and makes us like Christ (1 John 4:17) We are made new (2 Corinthians 5:17) and begin to do good things (Galatians 5:22-23).

"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved," Paul proclaimed. (Acts 16:31) Offer your bodies as a "living sacrifice" to God (Romans 12:1), and "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." (Philippians 1:6)