Our ball of fire lab puppy, Annie, has adapted to us very well. From the very first night she slept quietly, well almost quietly. She snores. She has us trained to run for the door when she starts sniffing about the house. She gets a treat when she waters the lawn. The problem is she now fakes it. She squats and then comes running for her treat. We had a dilemma today. It was over a stick. It was the perfect stick. It was much too good to put down. However, how does one eat one’s treat when one’s mouth is already full? This produced a lot of whining.
She is so much like some humans I have known. God offers some incredible blessings. However, often they are conditional on our actions. Sometimes we have to give up something to make ourselves able to prosper from what He offers. If we want the blessing of health we have to give up some bad eating habits. We have to get off the couch and walk around the block each day.
God wants to forgive us of our sins but we make ourselves ineligible because we continue to harbor grudges against others. It isn’t that God doesn’t want to forgive us. Our unforgiving spirit interferes with God’s work in our hearts. Often just like Annie we whine about life’s misfortunes when the irony is we are the author of our misfortunes. It is easier to blame them on someone else. My students who do not study don’t do well on exams and it is my fault when they receive a poor grade. If we truly want all the goodness God offers there are some things we must let go.
Written by Roger Bothwell on April 19, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena,CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org