It’s the Dog in Me : Part I

It’s in you. It’s in me. It’s in everyone. It’s the dog in us. My husband said that women don’t have the dog in them. But I know that I do…everyone does. The dog answers by the same name:  the flesh or sinful nature.

The Bible describes the flesh as “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”(Galatians 5:19-21, NIV)

Wait a minute! I don’t do these awful things!

 Okay…okay…before your flesh starts barking, just know that it waits for your moment of weakness to seize an opportunity for temptation. You know it’s there. Every time you lose your temper, gossip about someone, watch a TV show or movie that you shouldn’t, overeat or drink to excess, speak or act disrespectfully to those in authority, entertain impure thoughts, love the things in the world more than you love God, become jealous or envious of others, start fights or arguments, etc…

The flesh is about you getting what you want, when you want it, and how you want it—even if you know better! You may want to do right before God, but your sinful nature keeps luring you back to what is wrong. Though you’re free, it keeps you enslaved to sin.

But before you despair, know that the Paul struggled as well in Romans 7:15-19 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do… For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” This is the cry of every sincere believer who wants their life to shine God’s righteousness and holiness.

How to deal with the dog?

Years ago we lived next to a young couple who owned a big, scary dog named Grace. She wasn’t graceful towards us…but that’s for another blog. I noticed that when the husband walked Grace. She kept in perfect step with him. When he jogged, walked, or stood still, Grace wouldn’t move one inch away from him. He trained that dog to the degree that he probably didn’t need a leash.

However for his wife—it was a totally different scenario. When she decided to walk the dog, you couldn’t tell who was walking whom. Grace yanked her across the street, sniffing everything she wanted to sniff, barking at everyone she could find, and chasing after rabbits, squirrels, basically anything that dared to move. My neighbor would be screaming, “Heel!” to no avail.

Just like Grace, many of us are being yanked around by the flesh to places we don’t want to go. We can control the flesh and its desires with the Spirit of God…find out in “It’s the Dog in Me Part II” next time!

The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.