Leave that Dog at Home

Why is it so hard to do what is right? You know what you have to do to move your life forward, what you have to do for self-development. Albeit all needed resources may not be readily available, we make plans as involving that which we have at our disposal in the bid that we would move forward. Yet don’t we see how we usually end up being distracted and thus derailed from the path to success and improvement. And if not for the mercy and grace of God, don’t we usually end up in defeat. The fact still remains: God will only do what it is His job to do while we must do ours. Must we take grace for granted believing God will undertake our role for us?


Some years ago, I read a story I know I will never forget. This very interesting story was about a hunter who had a little dog, a rather engaging pet I was led to believe.  One day he decided to go hunting for pheasants and so he took his dog along. But along the way his dog ran excitedly into the bush, this forced him to go off the path to his destination: the hunting grounds for pheasants. It is said that he did spend the whole day running after the dog and getting back on track, only for the dog to run off again and again. Soon it was dusk and with the day spent, he had to abandon his quest consigning it to the next day.

The next day, he got up early in the morning and taking his dog along, he proceeded out to hunt for pheasants. I guess you would think that the second day was different. Well, it wasn’t different from the first neither was the third nor the fourth. When our friend, the hunter, got home on the fourth day he told himself, “Oh what great fool I am. For four days that I have gone hunting I have ended up coming home with nothing. I have need of no seer to make me realize that the dog has been my distraction. Tomorrow is another day; I believe that if I leave this dog at home things maybe different at the day’s end.” So he went out the next day leaving his dog locked at home and surely, that day was different from the preceding ones because he did come home with his kill. He didn’t need to be told that from that day onwards he should go hunting alone.

Rom.7:15, 18 & 19. “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I… …for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”  I believe that there is the need for us to look at this piece of Scripture from a new perspective. You are a person who wants to go somewhere, not just anywhere but to the top. Maybe you wake up in the morning with the day already scheduled but you find out at the close of everyday that there is so much that you have left undone as compared to that you were able to accomplish. In other words, your pheasant hunting always ends with poor results.

As Christians we have been called by the Lord to a life of purpose and relevance. Our God is a God of order, purpose and achievement. When the world sees the believer it should see victory and fulfillment personified. Have you surrendered yourself to the Holy Spirit for access to the wisdom you need to take the right choices and to make the best decisions? “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Rom.8v14 emphasizes the necessity of being led by the Spirit of God.  To what degree do you allow your day to be led by the Holy Spirit? This goes beyond starting the day with morning devotion. It engages a conscious effort and determination on the part of the believer to partner with the Spirit in engaging the accomplishment of God’s will in his life and environment. Christ prayed, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

At the beginning of this year you made plans but how many of them have you been able to accomplish.  We are always fond of making plans upon plans. Some of us have weekly plans, monthly plans, quarterly plans, and yearly plans; some even have plans as touching the next five years. The question is how you have fared in going about them. Let me emphasize to you that it is not about making of plans, it is about achieving them. If your progress has been hindered then check yourself thoroughly, you may be the culprit to blame. Do you allow TV programmes, or video games, or magazines to weigh you down? For some, it is the obstacle of movie watching, or engagements with friends, and many more that time and space cannot allow me to mention.

In the world of today, a world of chaos, discrepancies, digressions and instability; it is so easy to become unfocused and distracted, it is so easy for any person wired for success to become an under-achiever: it only takes you to continuously accommodate distracting elements in your schedule. Not to be a sluggard is not by doing much or laboring too hard, it is by doing the right thing at the right time! The ant provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. The activities as well as the time they were carried out ensured the survival and success of the ant.

Paul says, “I fight not as one that beats his hands in the air;” DO YOU? He also said, “But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize…” As you prepare for each day, do obey this injunction proffered in Rom.13v14 : "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."  Take a decisive action today- equip yourself  for pheasant hunting and go out without the distracting dogs in your life. If your life is a drag then unnecessary weights may be keeping you down. LEAVE THAT DOG AT HOME !!!

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Shalom !