There’s a story about a confused man that went into a village to see the village wise man. The man shared, “I feel like there are two dogs living inside of me. One dog is this positive, loving, kind and gentle dog. The other dog is angry, mean spirited and negative.” He told the wise man he was unsure of which of these two dogs was going to win the battle and rule his life.
The wise man told the man, “I know which dog is going to win. The one you feed the most, so feed the positive, loving, kind and gentle dog.”
Everything is in the Bible. King Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that there is nothing new under the sun and that includes multi-tasking. In Romans 12:9 we are told to, “Let your love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” That’s spiritual multi-tasking: Let your love be real (not of that fake Facebook kind of love), be opposed to the things that are evil and ungodly and be all about the things that are good and right. What the Apostle Paul is telling the Church at Rome is we need to feed the right dog.
We are told to have a love that is authentic, and we need to understand that love must be expressed, love has action that supports it. In other words, good intentions are not enough. Real love is not self-centered - it’s not about what I can get but rather what I can give, if that makes sense. This sincere love God talks about will center on the needs and the welfare of the one that is loved (kind of like how God loves on you). Feed the dog of love.
As Christians we are to starve the dog that is tempted to engage in things that are harmful, things that eventually cause pain, things that are worthless, not healthy and are counter-productive to your faith in Christ. We should not have anything to do with sketchy.
Think about Joseph in the Old Testament and Potiphar’s wife is hitting on him, and he runs out of the house, even leaving his coat behind (Genesis 39:7 - 12). This is the idea of hating what is evil, we run from it as fast as we can and as far away from it as we can. Proverbs 8:123 tells us, “Fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” We are to love what God loves and hate what God hates. I could be wrong, but I think the church compromises way too much. (Ouch!) Don’t compromise your Christian character, commit all of your life to Christ. Starve the dog of bad influences.
Finally, we feed the dog of good. We are to “cling to what is good.” If we want to know how to live out the Christian life, we must fill it with the things that are good and please the Lord. Things that encourage us to follow Jesus. Things that build us up in Christ. How much time do we spend “scrolling and surfing?” Charles Spurgeon said, “Visit many good books, but live in the Bible.” How much time do we spend away from God versus dedicated time with God? Fill your life with the Lord, let Him be your life, don’t fill your life with trivial pursuits! 1st Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to “examine things, test things in our lives and only hold onto what is good.” Those are some action steps we can take right now!
How many of us claim Christ but live with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the culture? It’s like we have dual citizenship. How many of us are feeding both dogs and wonder why our lives are stuck?
He asked me to ask you that.
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