Stuffed Desires

Day 262 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I'm sure our dog is not the only one that likes stuffed animals. He may be one of few, though, that carries a Furby around some times. He has a laundry basket full of different sizes and types of stuffed animals and squeekie toys. These all usually find their way back out onto the floor shortly after they are put back into the basket.

Our dog is part lab, so he likes to carry things around. He really, really likes rocks for some reason. If he happens to grab one outside when we aren't looking he will carry it around until you sneak it away from him. He likes to play with the rocks and sometimes swallows them, so we try to keep them away from him if at all possible. That's where the stuffed animals come in and help out a bit.

He is also very excitable. He really gets excited when we get back home from being gone for a little while. He runs around and grabs one of his "babies" to bring to us as a gift. Only thing is he will not give it up, he's got to keep it locked in his grasp.

While writing that last line about our dog it dawned on me that we do the same things. We like to hold on to things with a death grip and not give them up. We'll even confide in someone (show it to them, like the dog does his stuffed animal) and even act like we want to give it up, but then we cling on to it. Sin is like that. It deceives. We think that just telling someone that we have a particular grasp on a sin (or vice-versa) that we are from from it. We self deceive and may even hide our sin in front of that person, creating another sin of lying, just to have a good appearance for them. The thing is that God knows about that sin and He knows that you have not forsaken it. Some things we have to tighten the belt for and dive in and cut it from our hearts. This is what Jesus meant when He said "if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out". Not in a literal sense, but in the sense that you have to get serious about your sin, get radical to do whatever it takes to forsake your sin instead of forsaking God. He has promised to not give you more than you can handle, so turn to Him for the strength, but turn from your sin.

Turning to God over every area of life is what it's all about. God has done all things through Christ for you. He has paid the ultimate price for you and me. Most of the time we are too selfish to turn loose of our sin and allow God to love us. We would rather wallow in the mire and filth instead of staying pristine. Our flesh is very wicked and we are given the ways to overcome sin. Turn to God for whatever has hold of you, be it lying on your taxes or selfishness, hating your brother or taking an ink pen from your job. It is all sin, it all put Christ on the Cross and it all is under His blood.