Of devouring lions and shaggy dogs...
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
"There is a comedy in which an escaped lion takes the place of the shaggy dog beside the armchair and the comic affectionately runs his fingers through its mane several times before realizing that, as we say, he has a problem. We act like that with regard to our sinful habits. We treat them as friends rather than killers, and never suspect how indwelling sin when indulged enervates and deadens. "
This interesting story reminds me that we have too many devouring lions (sinful habits) in our life that we are treating affectionately as our pet dogs instead. Devouring lions which dress up as pet dogs sometimes. I found it very necessary too to be able to tell the true pet dogs (good habits) from the devouring lions (bad habits).
Easier said than done though, and discerning between the two isn't easy.
Practically i've found this helps lots: "In ALL your ways ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, and He shall direct your steps.(proverbs 3:6)". This helps me to discern honestly which activities are pleasing to Him, and which aren't.
I've found it to be almost impossible to do that unless i exercise myself constantly in prayer, worship, edifying, witness and a consistent, all-around obedience. Prayer, worship, witness and obedience that extends beyond my quiet time and permeates my entire day. That constantly reminds me to acknowledge Him as Master and Saviour.
And that in turn helps me decide which activities should go. Anything that hinders me from acknowledging Him as Master and Saviour at every moment. I found that when i'm studying for example, if i sensed God calling me to do something else, could i just drop my work immediately to do it? If my answer was that my work came first, then i was not acknowledging Him as Master.
Another good example came in how much time i was investing in His work. Good habits like praying fervently, telling others about Christ, reading the Bible and good Christian books, mentoring a fellow Christian - all of which remind me to focus on truth and acknowledge God and which obey His commands for me to do so. How much was i doing this. If in the week the answer was - only a bit, then i was probably engaged in activities which were taking time away from God's clear command to edify, evangelize, and equip oneself, clearly not acknowledging Him as Master. These activities were then devouring lions. To end off, i guess a verse i've learnt when i wondered if i was too extreme in my thoughts:
2 Tim 2:3-4
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
Prayer requests:
-Do pray for me to have a continuing heart for the unsaved... i do really get preoccupied with my work far too often... then only once in a while i get a strong urge to do something...
-That i will acknowledge God in ALL i do... i like to segmentalize God into quiet time, non-quiet time, prayer time, non-prayer time, witnessing time-nonwitnessing time etc... when there shouldn't be a divide...
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
"There is a comedy in which an escaped lion takes the place of the shaggy dog beside the armchair and the comic affectionately runs his fingers through its mane several times before realizing that, as we say, he has a problem. We act like that with regard to our sinful habits. We treat them as friends rather than killers, and never suspect how indwelling sin when indulged enervates and deadens. "
This interesting story reminds me that we have too many devouring lions (sinful habits) in our life that we are treating affectionately as our pet dogs instead. Devouring lions which dress up as pet dogs sometimes. I found it very necessary too to be able to tell the true pet dogs (good habits) from the devouring lions (bad habits).
Easier said than done though, and discerning between the two isn't easy.
Practically i've found this helps lots: "In ALL your ways ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, and He shall direct your steps.(proverbs 3:6)". This helps me to discern honestly which activities are pleasing to Him, and which aren't.
I've found it to be almost impossible to do that unless i exercise myself constantly in prayer, worship, edifying, witness and a consistent, all-around obedience. Prayer, worship, witness and obedience that extends beyond my quiet time and permeates my entire day. That constantly reminds me to acknowledge Him as Master and Saviour.
And that in turn helps me decide which activities should go. Anything that hinders me from acknowledging Him as Master and Saviour at every moment. I found that when i'm studying for example, if i sensed God calling me to do something else, could i just drop my work immediately to do it? If my answer was that my work came first, then i was not acknowledging Him as Master.
Another good example came in how much time i was investing in His work. Good habits like praying fervently, telling others about Christ, reading the Bible and good Christian books, mentoring a fellow Christian - all of which remind me to focus on truth and acknowledge God and which obey His commands for me to do so. How much was i doing this. If in the week the answer was - only a bit, then i was probably engaged in activities which were taking time away from God's clear command to edify, evangelize, and equip oneself, clearly not acknowledging Him as Master. These activities were then devouring lions. To end off, i guess a verse i've learnt when i wondered if i was too extreme in my thoughts:
2 Tim 2:3-4
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
Prayer requests:
-Do pray for me to have a continuing heart for the unsaved... i do really get preoccupied with my work far too often... then only once in a while i get a strong urge to do something...
-That i will acknowledge God in ALL i do... i like to segmentalize God into quiet time, non-quiet time, prayer time, non-prayer time, witnessing time-nonwitnessing time etc... when there shouldn't be a divide...
