MY SON Dan and his family brought home a little black miniature pincher mix, some years ago! He was and is so cute! On his first visit to our house he had gone to the front door but nobody was aware of it. He didn’t bark or make any signs of wanting out! But soon I noticed he was not where the gang was, so I called his name; “Chester!” Very slowly he made his way from the direction of the front door with his head down. Soon he stopped! I motioned to him to come to me and of course in a voice designed just for babies and puppies, I said; “come here Chester, come on, come to me!”
CHESTER moved slowly towards me although his head was still down. He stopped about 18 inches from me and put his little nose into the carpet, and at the same time lifted his eyes up to look at me with the most sorrowful look I had ever seen on a puppy! Broke my heart, but it was so funny; what was up with Chester?
RIGHT AWAY, Dan and Faye knew what happened! They had seen this before! We went to check out the front door and sure enough a little puddle was there! We turned to look at Chester and he was so unhappy! He knew he had done wrong, but he didn’t know what to do when no one was there to let him out! So he just let go and did what comes naturally to little puppies in training.
WHEN I remember this moment in the life of Chester, I am reminded of us Christians when we allow a temptation to take hold of us and we sin! We are angry with ourselves, we feel the remorse and our countenance falls and it is difficult to face family and friends, because we just know, they know and are going to want an accounting as to why we allowed Satan to tempt us and to fall into his trap. I can write about this because I have been there and done that, and so have you!
“JESUS SAID to His disciples; ‘Things that make people fall into sin are bound to happen; but how terrible for the one who makes them happen!’” Luke 17:1 The scriptures are clear that temptations will come, and the hand that tempts us will wish he had never been born! The scriptures talk about causing a child of God to sin; the culprit will find themselves in a large amount of WOE!
“WOE TO THE world for temptations, to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but WOE to the man by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame, than with two hands or two feet, and to be thrown into the eternal fire!” Matthew 18:7-8 There are many temptations in the world designed to make people turn away from Christ. However, this does not alleviate the punishment for the one who causes such things. As Christians we are always in training!
TO CUT OFF your hands or feet is merely symbolic to the one who allows themselves to be dragged into sin. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is not an excuse with merit. You shouldn’t be there at all! This illustration is merely showing how detrimental sin is to our salvation. If you continue in sin by choice or habit, you are heading for the eternal fire. Eliminating the sin factor is the Holy Spirit giving you a way of escape, so that you can avoid the price of continuing to sin!
LIVING MOMENT by moment for Jesus Christ, comes a little bit easier, the older one gets! You understand the importance of coming to the Father with clean hands and a pure heart. Living lives within Satan’s entrapments, keeps us from enjoying the fulness of life that comes through Jesus Christ.
“AND THAT repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations!” Luke 24:47a When Christ arose from the dead, all things came into place for those who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior! His resurrection, has made it possible for our repentance and forgiveness of sin. Chester, didn’t want to be bad, but couldn’t help himself. We don’t want to do bad things, and we have help; use it! Don’t let a thrill for the moment, overshadow a life time of great moments in Jesus Christ as we walk daily with Him!
By Jane Ann Crenshaw 11/29/13
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