It's Love, Not A Leash

We have a year-old dachshund who is deaf. Since she can't hear, we usually keep her tie-out cable connected to her collar when we are in town, so she doesn't get too far away. If she's dragging that cable she seems to stay closer, or we are able to get close enough to step on it and get her to stop. Last week, I decided to start letting her go out without the leash or tie cable. My thinking was that she now knows where her home is and she'll eventually come home.

When we are at our other places, we let her out without being tied or on a leash. Mainly because there are no other dogs near who might think she would make a nice lunch. At the ranch and at the lake, I've noticed that she doesn't ever stray very far and always knows where her home is. I can trust her to come home when she's tired of exploring.

I was reminded that God doesn't keep his children on a leash either. He trusts us to love him enough to stay in his yard and to come back home when we wander too far. In his mercy, he gave us the gift of salvation and his only requirement is that we love him in return. We are not tied to a set of rules, rather out of appreciation for what he's done for us, we should desire to remain in his presence and under his protection.

He gives us the Ten Commandments, not as a leash to keep us in check, but as a boundary or as guidelines to keep us in our own yard and under his watchful care.

Here's the scripture reference for this week: "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:23-26).

In His Amazing Grace,

Pastor Jerry

Making waves

While on the lake the other evening, I noticed at times a disturbance on the water. Upon examination, I decided it must have been either pike or bass feeding on some smaller fish. My suspicions were confirmed after casting my lure near one of those areas and catching a northern pike. If that pike had kept a low profile and not been making waves, I would not have known he was there, and would have probably not bothered casting into that spot.

There is a spiritual parallel here. If a Christian is involved in doing things for the Lord, he gets noticed by the devil. The devil doesn't like Christians who make waves, and he will throw some temptation, some lure in front of them trying to distract them from what they are accomplishing for Christ's sake. When we are doing the Lord's work, Satan will try to destroy that work and one of the ways he will do that is to get us to take his bait and commit some sin. He knows he cannot steal our salvation, because as a true believer in Jesus Christ, our salvation is secure. But he can steal our witness and make our life be a stumbling block to others, causing them to miss the message of the cross.

So, believer, watch out for the tricks of your enemy the devil. Remember, if he's not trying to tempt you or catch you in some trap, you may not be a threat to him. It might be time to step up your activity on behalf of the Lord.

One more thing, if you've never been bothered by Satan, maybe it's time to place your faith in Jesus and tell the devil to go fish somewhere else.

Makin' waves,

Pastor Jerry