A little over two years ago we welcomed a new member into our family, a rescue puppy we named Buddy. He is a very cool little dog, very loving and smart. He adapted very quickly to the rhythms of our home and has learned our rules for him (which are really few).
Now saying he has learned the rules doesn’t mean he always obeys them. He, like most smart dogs I have known, knows how to press the edges of the rules when he thinks he can get away with it.
I’ve always had a tendency towards verbal training of pets as opposed to restraints. I prefer to train Buddy to listen without a leash instead of always needing a leash on him, as an example. This can create lots of issues and challenges, and in truth is much more difficult to develop, but once developed I believe it forms a much better environment and relationship.
Buddy adapted to this training very well from the beginning. He displayed a disposition from the beginning of not wanting to be alone, and I used that to my advantage. It took very little time for him to learn the borders of our yard. In fact, one neighbor thought we had installed an underground fence because of the way Buddy stopped at the yard’s edge every time he was out.
However, Buddy is a clever little feller, and he also learned really quickly that if I wasn’t in eyeshot he could slip around the corner without me noticing, for at least a short period of time. But Buddy is certainly a dog of habit, and his habit is to try and slip away at the same spots in the yard every time. He has many options, but is tempted by the same few openings and so becomes predictable.
And you know, we are not dissimilar. Almighty God has set boundaries for us to observe, commandments for us to obey, as we journey around our environment. When we walk knowingly in Almighty God’s sight, we tend to observe more readily the commandments, but when we get a sense that we are alone or without oversight, we are tempted to slip into a place we are not supposed to go.
In truth, our tendencies to stray tend to also find consistency. The weaknesses unique to each of us are often repetitive, and we end up stumbling in similar ways through weakness to similar temptations. Oftentimes these are, in part, a product of our life experiences, and the paths we try to take away from God’s command get well-worn.
What paths are you prone to take, or find temptation too strong to resist? Today, consider these two verses as you look introspectively into the areas of your particular weaknesses:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor. 10:13, ESV)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Rom. 3:23-24, ESV)
Almighty and most merciful God, help us to see the weaknesses of our flesh, and being strengthened in the Spirit, remain steadfast in your commands; and when we fall short, convict us of our waywardness that we might repent and return to Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with Thee and the Holy Spirit are One God, world without end. AMEN.