Titus 3:3-5;
“3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit….”
“3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit….”
I have a dog at my house, and her name is Ginger. The other day my son and I spent a couple of hours playing with her, which is not normal for us. After seeing some of the things she did, it opened my eyes to see the similarities between dogs, and Christians who live life without purpose. First of all, dogs bark, and this can be quite disturbing, and they bark for just about anything. As humans, we cannot figure out what they are trying to say. All we hear is just noise, their desperate need to be noticed. One typical characteristic of Christians who live purposeless lives is that they create a lot of noise, but do not stand up for anything. Sometimes they even don’t stand up for their own beliefs and convictions, and they prefer to go with the flow.
Another thing that dogs do is to run around in circles. It is not particularly going anywhere, but it is constantly on the move. Haven’t we all, at some point in our life seen, and even laughed, seeing a dog run in circles, chasing its own tail? And when it is finally done, it ends exactly at the point where it began. Ah! The zenith of life without purpose! Christians look for purpose in life in all the wrong places. In order to fill the void, some, Christians included, stay constantly on phones, PDAs, televisions, computers, and emails, stuff that distract us, and keep us busy. Others, find ways of keeping busy with “activities,” sometimes even in “Church Activities,” convincing ourselves of fulfilling the “ultimate” purpose in life. After all, how could being entrenched in church activities lead to purposeless lives? Finally, dogs are consumers. They don’t eat when they are hungry, they eat when they see food. They live just for the fun of life, without any meaning, or hope in life.
We can learn a lot from dogs, because dogs are creatures that ONLY function on a level that is external. They love to be petted and rubbed. Ask any dog owner, how much they love to be rubbed in the belly. In fact, ALL dogs willingly lie on their backs, with their four legs in the air to be rubbed in the belly. They enjoy that good, momentary feeling. It is just a good feeling for the moment on a nice external coat. Lots of people, even Christians, get up out of their beds daily live their lives like dogs, hoping that someone will notice, and some way make them feel valuable and significant. But God’s design and desire is to release our souls from the hollowness and lead us to a life of fulfillment in Christ. God has not accepted us, nor can He accept us looking at our works of righteousness, because ALL our works are like “filthy rags” before Him. But be satisfied of the truth that He saved us, according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for us is that, God will enable us to live purposeful lives.
Stephen Thomas (Bobby)
Stephen is an ordained Christian Minister and a Bible teacher who is a mentor to several youth leaders in Crossway Church and around the globe. He is a regular visiting Speaker in Crossway Church, New Delhi. He can be reached at stephenthomas6400@hotmail.com
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