God Lessons from a Dog, 2
One of my part-time jobs to weather this season of changing seasons in my life is a home care aide. I do all kinds of things: cook, clean, bathe, run errands. If I serve a pet lover, this can include managing pets and related pet things.
Recently, I met Chuck (named changed to protect the animal and his owners). He was yappy, full of energy, huge, and had not yet grown into his paws. He was a crossbreed of a retriever and poodle… a big, dark mud puddle wrapped in a tornado.
We were good buddies for 3.25 hours as I bathed one of his mistresses and set her up to face the day.
It all went downhill after that.
I got out the broom and mop. Chuck turned whirlwind imp.
Those devices to him were not tools. They were toys — large, oversized sticks. He felt I should be throwing them for him to catch and return to me. Forget the chandeliers and antiques; he wanted to play.
What should have been a 10-minute task became a 30-minute aerobic exercise. I would carry the handles above my head with him jumping and snapping at the handle. The mop had to swung around in a chaotic, amorphous pattern instead of the deliberate, planned path that only someone with OCD could love. Several times, I twisted my hips to avoid a snout up my butt.
It didn’t matter what I did, Chuck followed. If he got the handles, it turned into a tug of war. I could not escape.
I wonder what Christendom would be like if we Christians worked as hard at where the Holy Spirit was cleaning us as Chuck worked to turn work to play.
According to John 14:26, the Holy Spirit is a special Helper or Counselor. His job is to teach us about holiness and to remind us of the Words the Lord has left us in His Word.
Romans 15:16 says that the Holy Spirit also sanctifies believers. Sanctify has several meanings. Most relevant include “to set apart as sacred; to make holy” and “to purify or free from sin.”
For this grace has made me a servant of the gospel of God, constantly doing the work of a priest, for I endeavor to present an acceptable offering to God; so that the non-Jewish people of the earth may be set apart and made holy by the Spirit of holiness. (The Passion Translation)
In Ephesians 4:30, the Holy Spirit is a seal, a special marking, that shows we have been sanctified or set apart by our choosing fellowship with Christ.
Don’t cause grief to God’s Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption. (Complete Jewish Bible)
And we do need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s teachings and reminders. It is a very grave thing to ignore the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 warns that rejecting instruction on holiness is not only rejecting the Holy Spirit but God the Father as well.
Therefore, whoever rejects this instruction isn’t rejecting human authority but God himself, who gives us his precious gift — his Spirit of holiness. (The Passion Translation)
Hebrews 6:4–6 contains the gravest and harshest word yet. In rejecting the Holy Spirit initially, we set in motion a pattern that could lead to permanent falling away from the teachings of Christ. It is impossible according to the Word to return from this.
Some people cannot be brought back again to a changed life. They were once in God’s light. They enjoyed heaven’s gift, and they shared in the Holy Spirit. They found out how good God’s word is, and they received the powers of his new world. And then they fell away from Christ! It is not possible to keep on bringing them back to a changed life again. For they are nailing the Son of God to a cross again and are shaming him in front of others. (International Children’s Bible)
So in light of all this, we should be focused on the Holy Spirit. We should be zooming where He zooms. We should be applying God’s Word to the sin areas in our life He is trying to clean. Nothing should shake us or deter us. Our time following His leading should be precious and joy-filled. We should wrestle to accept the leading of the Holy Spirit as He does the job God the Father gave to Him.
Just like Chuck would not let go of the cleaning implements I desperately needed to do my job…
