Back in the 1980s, when I was younger, I attended a youth meeting every Friday night. It was a ranch-like setting, with a large cabin or building for meetings. It also had a bathroom (more like an outhouse), a food stand, a volleyball “court” and many trees.
Oh, I almost forgot; there was also a resident dog. This canine was always chained to a tree and was constantly barking. He was friendly enough, and allowed some of the braver youth to pet him occasionally. His owner used to say all the time: “He is a nice doggy. He has never bitten anyone.”
One Friday night, one of the young people noticed that the nice, friendly and harmless dog was choking and decided to help. It was a big mistake, for as soon as she tried to dislodge the object from his mouth, the “nice” dog jumped on her and bit her in the face and head.
Perhaps you are a dog loving person (me too) and don’t believe this story. Well, it’s true. What I don’t believe is when people tell me that their dogs don’t bite. They do bite, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to crunch, tear and rip their food. I don’t know about you, but I will keep my distance from those “nice, cute and cuddly” beasts…just in case.
We must also keep as far away as we can from temptation. We have been “bitten” too many times by sin. Oh, how foolish we are by falling again and again for the same old lies, tricks and false promises of Satan!
Eve was the first sinner. She played around with temptation and sin destroyed her. She didn’t realize that as she was biting into the forbidden fruit, hell was biting her with a fury. The tasty, pleasant and desirable fruit (in her eyes) left her empty, naked and afraid (Genesis 3:6, 7).
There are no perfect dogs or harmless sins. Dogs bite and sin brings chaos and death. Don’t be fooled by the attractive and tasty bait, for there is a deadly hook behind it. Don’t play with or flirt with temptation, because behind every pleasure there is pain, and behind every sinful delight there is death.
Samson pet Delilah and sin bit him. He thought that he would be able to escape, as he did the other times that he flirted with sin and danger, but he was captured (Judges 16:20).
David pet Bathsheba and sin bit him. He thought that no one had seen his sin of adultery and murder, but God saw it all and there were grave consequences (2 Samuel 12:7-12)
Solomon pet foreign women and sin bit him…and you know the rest of the story.
Brothers and sisters, avoid petting dogs (or any other animal), or do so with extreme caution. On the other hand, never pet, play or flirt with temptation, because it will bite you back.
A. G.
