Our current pet population consists of a “seasoned” beagle named Bolt. He came to us as a younger pup 12 or 13 years ago. He, like other dogs I’ve had over the years, reminds me that dogs really are man’s best friend, and along the way his actions remind me of some valuable spiritual lessons.
For example, consider his drinking habits. No, not the kind of drinking habits that merit intervention, when he sits around a poker table with a few buddies wearing visors and smoking cigars. Just plain, regular, water-in-the-bowl drinking habits.
We provide him with a dish of water. Granted, it doesn’t come from a bottle or a jug, nor is it filtered. It comes straight from the sink, but we keep it filled and fresh. When the bowl runs low, we empty it and replace the water. If we notice some crumbs or debris in the water, we toss it out and refill it. Bolt is always supplied with clean, fresh water.
Despite our efforts to provide such water, he does a peculiar thing. After a rain shower, when we’re in the backyard, he’ll find an empty pot used for flowers or herbs, sniff around the source of dirty water for a moment, then lap it up, debris and all. The water isn’t fresh. Sometimes it’s been sitting for well over a day. The water isn’t clean. It has muck and mire from the previous vegetation. Yet he’ll drink it anyway, all the while a bowl of clean, pristine water awaits him just inside the house.
Bolt has access to fresh water, but sometimes he settles for stale water. His owners have provided him with a much better alternative, but there are times he chooses a less desirable option.
We’re kind of like Bolt at times, aren’t we? As the people of God, we have someone who provides us with a constant source of fresh water, but sometimes we settle for stale. In Christ, we have someone who came to give us abundant life on this earth (John 10:10), but sometimes we settle for mediocrity, seeking to exist “under the circumstances.”
Repeatedly in Scripture, people are presented with a choice between God and his best or something or someone else that is less than God’s best.
God placed this choice before ancient Israel. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey him, and remain faithful to him. For he is your life, and he will prolong your days as you live in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Issac, and Jacob” (Deut. 30:19-20).
To a rebellious Israel, God levied this charge, “For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves – cracked cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:13).
Jesus placed two options before the audience of his Sermon on the Mount, as he discussed the wise and foolish builders. A person can hear his words and act on them, thus building a strong foundation that stands during the storms of life, or a person can choose not to act upon those words, and realize their life is built upon sand (see Matt. 7:24-27).
We, too, have the choice placed before us each day. God has an endless supply of fresh water for us. We live in a world that is full of planting pots that have stale water sitting in them. We can choose to abide in Christ, the source we need for anything and everything (see John 15:1-8), or we can seek out other alternatives, all of which disappoint.
I scratch my head when Bolt decides to lap up stale water from a less-than-desirable source. I doubt God scratches his head when we look somewhere else for our spiritual nourishment, but maybe we should.
The View From My Pew 