WAG THE DOG

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 13:7 And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

The sin you have is the sin you want because if you didn’t want it more than you do want it you wouldn’t have it. (Read this again) You are sovereign and your mind, words and actions are entirely under your control. You are not the victim you are the perpetrator of all you do. So even though you meet all the requirements of being a Christian in good standing, the cares of this world and how much they won of you will take you down. Everything you have owns a piece of you and your time. Even the spoils of your efforts such as; career, house, car, clothes, etc. only take a few minutes of your time to maintain, more and more will leave you with less and less time for devotion and worship of Christ.

So here you are in your house of worship worrying about what needs yet to be done such as mowing your lawn, paying bills, unfinished work and no time for family or friends. The hour passes and you rush out with no fellowship and race to the next thing that has stolen your time. This continues all through this day of rest until you collapse in bed, head swirling with all that hasn’t been done and that which must be done tomorrow. A dog returning to it’s vomit. No time for the work of the Holy Spirit?

What are some of those tools Satan uses to “take your Jesus away?” Here are a few of the thorns in your life: career, home, car, hobbies, clothes, prestige, wealth and appearance. This weed infested soil will not grow, nurture and sustain your attention to Jesus. All hell breaks loose on you to put off religion until tomorrow. You can have all of the best intentions but the road to hell is paved with those. What you need to address is priorities and all the fortitude to stick to your plan.

The priorities should be God, family, church and then everyone else; any deviation from this order will inevitably cause disorder and in fact chaos. It behooves you to be a relentless expert with time management. No matter how badly you have been swallowed up by things and their maintenance, you can always put Jesus back on top. My favorite repeated verse in the KJV is, “It came to pass.” Your gravestone will only have a dash between your birth and death dates. Just a dash!

It came to pass. The tail doesn’t wag the dog anymore, amen.