Jesus and the Retractable Leash

I was flipping through the local radio channels in my car last week when I overheard a woman speaking on how God sometimes teaches us in unusual ways. She said God had recently taught her a lesson through her retractable leash.

She mentioned that when we get a puppy, we keep the leash short and have the puppy walk close to us. As the puppy grows and matures then we are able to begin releasing the leash more and more to give the dog more freedom to run.

"But," the woman continued, "it is the opposite as a Christian." When we become Christians we "leash ourselves" to Jesus. As baby-Christians, we tend to want a lot of "leash" to roam around. We continually tug away from God as we fight to give up those things that contaminate us yet as we grow and mature in Christ we should be striving [and succeeding] to walk closer and closer beside our Lord.

I think many dog owners can understand that visual! I was reminded of this illustration on Sunday when a brother read 2 Corinthians 7:1 "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates the body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

PRACTICAL: Join me in asking yourself these questions:

• Am I still trying to pull on the leash to get certain worldly freedoms? (in music, TV, movies, bad social groups, with the opposite sex, with my time, with video games, violent materials or sports..)
• Am I calmly walking next to Jesus throughout my day? (spending deep, daily time with Him, sharing about Him with others during my day, praying wide prayers daily...)

I can see as I look back on my life that I've been retracting my spiritual leash more and more to walk closer to Jesus...yet I still have things I "tug on the leash" about...and I am determined to let them go and change! :)