It’s amazing how often simple, yet profound, lessons can be learned from the simplest of things in life … if we look for them. As I sat pondering what to write this week, another “Lesson from a Golden Retriever” came to mind.
If you’ve ever had a dog chained up outside where there is some object to get their chain wrapped around, you know that, sure enough, the dog will get tangled up with that object. Angel did just that this week. When we let her outside, we usually chain her to the clothesline. The other night, she had her chain wrapped around the kids’ basketball hoop twice. In doing that, she severely limited her room to roam. I probably should have just unhooked her chain, but I decided to walk her around the basketball hoop to get it untangled (and in a futile attempt to teach her a lesson). She was resistant to say the least.
Herein lies the lesson: God gives us tremendous freedom to live our lives, yet He provides us with guidelines to keep us safe from harm to ourselves or others. However, like Angel, we can easily get caught up with (or in) something that we should have avoided. Before long, we are trapped. Hebrews 12:1 speaks of the sin which so easily “entangles” (NASB / NIV) or ensnares” (NKJV). If we would just follow God’s guidelines, we would enjoy the freedom to truly live. As Jesus proclaimed, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b) But, somehow, we find ourselves “entangled” or “ensnared,” and are often resistant to God’s redirection (untangling).
Life would be so much simpler if we would only obey. But, so often, we make life hard by going astray. I pray that we may all follow God’s direction and instruction, and remain free from sin’s entanglement. And, when we find ourselves entangled, may we be quick to respond to God’s redirection. As Jesus taught us to pray, Lord, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
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