Day 250 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series
So, it's been a while since I
Just because I am not a cat person doesn't mean these little critters have not become fans of mine. They seem to like to follow me around some. The one pictured will jump up on the couch with me sometimes and lay on my leg. The other cat likes to sleep right beside my leg at night. Although I do not like cats, I am not mean to them either. They can't help it because they're stinkin' cats after all.
God instilled into me at an early age a broad love for animals. Even though I do not personally like some of the species that God has created, doesn't mean that I want anything bad to happen to them. Well, other than the moles in the yard that like to create obstacle courses for me to mow over. And even the moles that I really, really do not like I don't want to cause any harm to. I just want hem gone out of our yard.
Compassion for animals came natural to me, but compassion for individuals is sometimes a struggle for me. Animals pretty much act out of instinct, so they have an excuse for the things they do. People, on the other hand, have God given decision making capacities as well as a God given conscience to guide them through life. This is true for the lost as well as the converted. When people go against their better judgment and their conscience is when bad things start to happen, namely sin. We all know right from wrong very early in life and we all seem to want to veer toward the wrong instead of the right. That is our nature, to sin.
Some people's depravity though seems to be very far from the "normal" depravity of the general population. Maybe these people are actually demon possessed instead of having any number of mental illnesses often attributed to these days. I say they are sinners in need of God and that if they ever put their faith in God they would start to be more "normal" compared to this ages standards. I'll offer Jeffrey Dahmer as a example. He murdered and cannibalized at least 17 other humans before his arrest and conviction. While in prison he professed faith in Christ and seemingly "became" a new person. Was he truly converted? I have no idea, but the signs point toward yes. He was killed while protecting another inmate from being beaten by another inmate, the ultimate sacrifice a human could make, putting your life down for another. Now, that in itself is not proof of his conversion, but it would make a strong point in favor. Possibly Dahmer was demon possessed and showed the mental instability as the lashing out of that manifestation, then after God converted him the demon would no longer be able to have reign over him.
I do believe anyone is within the saving grace of God. He saved me after all, even after I thought that I had it all taken care of when I was a kid. I felt like I already had God, so I wasn't in the least bit interested in growing in holiness and didn't even know what sanctification was. I was good to go, took care of it and living the American Gospel message of a backslidden "Christian. I may be living like the world I loved so much, but inside I was good. I was "saved" from hell in my own mind, but not from a life of rebellion to God. For whatever reason God decided to shine His mercy down on me and expose my false profession and depravity. That is when He truly saved me and He has been saving me ever since. Without Him I would be just as big a sinner as Dahmer was. God in His mercy saved me and I haven't gotten over it yet. Since He saved me, He also has been sanctifying me, purging me of this world and conforming me to the likeness of Christ. I know I will not attain that level, but I still strive.
Thank God He still saves from the American gospel and false professions of faith.
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