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Stories Home
The Things He Loved
Wednesday, June 21 2006 @ 03:42 PM EDT
Contributed by: JoeNamyst
The Things He Loved....
We recently lost our family dog, Jude. Though he had his character flaws, he was a sweet Black Lab. If you know anything about Labs then you know they crave attention and tend to eat or chew everything in sight.
Over the last couple of weeks of his life we noticed his appetite declining. The last 4-5 days we could not get him to eat anything. The veterinarian finally determined that his kidneys were failing, most likely due to some type of poisoning, and there was nothing that could be done to save him.
The things he loved to do were his ultimate undoing. It really didn’t matter what it was Jude would eat it: balls, motorcycle helmets, dirt, sticks, 2x4s, sliding boards, step ladders . . . I could go on. Something he ate killed him.
Where did he get into the poison? Though Jude preferred to stay home, he would occasionally wander off if opportunity availed itself. To him everyone was a playmate. At one point we caught him going into the road to catch the attention of bike riders and hitchhikers. (We know the dangers associated with playing in the road, but Jude didn’t.) Was it possible one of those he sought the attention of had intentionally harmed him, or had inadvertently left poison within his reach?
In reality many of us have the same problem. We love to do things that are, in fact, harmful to our very existence. For years I had convinced myself that I loved to party. I lived to party, and if the Holy Spirit hadn’t revealed the danger I was in, I very well may have come to the same fate as my dear dog. The people and places I sought-out encouraged and enabled me to live a destructive lifestyle. You wouldn’t have caught me hanging around with people who would place fences in the way of my desires, or would have told me that what I was doing was wrong.
Not long ago a young man who was racing down the road met a tragic end when he lost control of his car and was killed. His mother was quoted in the paper saying, “He died doing what he loved to do.” I thought that was a very sad way to look at his death. I wondered if she would have felt that way if he had died of an overdose of heroin or cocaine. I wondered if she had ever warned him of the danger he posed to himself and others, or punished him in the past for being so irresponsible.
Hebrews 12:14,15 says, “Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you will miss out on the special favor of God. Watch out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up among you, for whenever it springs up among you, many are corrupted by its poison.” (NLT)
It is our duty to live clean and holy lives. Are things like movies, music, tv, pornography, illicit sex, drugs, alcohol, or abusive relationships poisoning the people of God? The Bible and life itself tell us that the things we treasure indicate the condition of our hearts. When we fail to have higher standards than those of the world we are in danger of poisoning ourselves and others around us. We may enjoy the “pleasure of sin for a season,” but death by poisoning is a very ugly and very real way to die. |
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