Every three months we go through the same thing—trying to get the flea pill into Chloe. The vet can talk all day about how good it tastes—why, it's beef flavored—but so is a bouillon cube and I wouldn't eat one of them either. Besides, I wonder if she has actually tasted this pill—this HUGE pill that somehow I am supposed to get not only into my dog's mouth, but actually down her throat.
We've tried the peanut butter trick. She somehow sucks it out of the peanut butter and spits it out without losing one smear of the good stuff.
We tried stuffing it into a block of cheese. Same thing, and not only that, but getting a block of cheese big enough for that horse pill is pretty expensive.
So one time we tried the mean way. We grabbed her, pried open her mouth and stuffed it in. Keith held her muzzle, stroked her throat to encourage swallowing, and talked as sweetly as he could to calm her down and get her to accept it. Even with her mouth clamped shut, out it came—like a watermelon seed spitting contest.
I am certain that you have seen people spit out the parts of the gospel they don't like, just like Chloe did her pills. I am just as certain you have seen Christians do the same thing. I actually had a woman tell me in a Bible class, "But I don't like reading those passages," as if that would make what she deemed objectionable go away or at least excuse her from having to look at it. Because of those attitudes we have people in the world who think God changes with the Testaments, that Jesus will accept their continuing sin because he loves them, and that the church is only there to take care of them and make them feel good.
This isn't new. One of Hosea's themes is that God's people did not know him. Oh, they knew his name, they knew he existed, but if they had really known what he was all about, do you really think they would have been so unfaithful?
Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. Hos 8:12. They were so ignorant of God and his law that it was practically a foreign language. It's the same attitude that, when confronted with their sin today, people dare to say, "But God wouldn't want me to be unhappy." When you really know someone, you understand their likes and dislikes, their opinions, their preferences, the things that are most important to them. We cannot claim to know God yet neither know nor even care about those things with him.
I recently came across the following quote: "The modern church is producing passionate people with empty heads who love the Jesus they don't know very well." (Voddie Baucham)
Because of his background, I believe the speaker is referring to the modern church in denominational terms, but I have seen enough ignorance among my brothers and sisters to know it applies here as well. The hunger for knowledge has been lost in a society that is too busy with "stuff" to even have time for it, much less think it is worth the trouble. And because we convert people by emotion alone, they have no real knowledge of God and what he requires of them in holiness, purity, and obedience. When they finally hear a sermon they don't agree with, regardless of the Biblical evidence, they leave because it no longer makes them happy, or it requires a sacrifice in their lifestyles, or they are "uncomfortable" with what it means. If we manage to chase them down and make them stay, don't expect them to go ahead and swallow that nasty pill they don't like.
Finally, out of sheer desperation one day, I called Chloe and told her I had a treat for her, using the same silly tone of voice and the same excited body language as for a real treat. Then I put it on the steps, right where I put all her other treats. She gave it a sniff and looked at me sideways. "Eat your treat!" I said, even sillier sounding than before. She sighed, leaned down, picked it up and, after rolling it around in her mouth for a while, ate it. Then she walked away, looking over her shoulder at me as if she were very disappointed in such a naughty child.
Somehow we must start getting the Word into people, whether they think they want it or not. Somehow we must show them that it is indeed a "treat." Learning God's Word can be fun. Learning about God can be exhilarating. Learning about everything he did to bring us into a saving relationship with him can spark a real desire to learn more, to become more like him, changing and growing each day. That's how you develop a faith that will stand the trials of life and prepare you for an Eternity with a Father you finally know.
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. Hos 2:20
Dene Ward
We've tried the peanut butter trick. She somehow sucks it out of the peanut butter and spits it out without losing one smear of the good stuff.
We tried stuffing it into a block of cheese. Same thing, and not only that, but getting a block of cheese big enough for that horse pill is pretty expensive.
So one time we tried the mean way. We grabbed her, pried open her mouth and stuffed it in. Keith held her muzzle, stroked her throat to encourage swallowing, and talked as sweetly as he could to calm her down and get her to accept it. Even with her mouth clamped shut, out it came—like a watermelon seed spitting contest.
I am certain that you have seen people spit out the parts of the gospel they don't like, just like Chloe did her pills. I am just as certain you have seen Christians do the same thing. I actually had a woman tell me in a Bible class, "But I don't like reading those passages," as if that would make what she deemed objectionable go away or at least excuse her from having to look at it. Because of those attitudes we have people in the world who think God changes with the Testaments, that Jesus will accept their continuing sin because he loves them, and that the church is only there to take care of them and make them feel good.
This isn't new. One of Hosea's themes is that God's people did not know him. Oh, they knew his name, they knew he existed, but if they had really known what he was all about, do you really think they would have been so unfaithful?
Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. Hos 8:12. They were so ignorant of God and his law that it was practically a foreign language. It's the same attitude that, when confronted with their sin today, people dare to say, "But God wouldn't want me to be unhappy." When you really know someone, you understand their likes and dislikes, their opinions, their preferences, the things that are most important to them. We cannot claim to know God yet neither know nor even care about those things with him.
I recently came across the following quote: "The modern church is producing passionate people with empty heads who love the Jesus they don't know very well." (Voddie Baucham)
Because of his background, I believe the speaker is referring to the modern church in denominational terms, but I have seen enough ignorance among my brothers and sisters to know it applies here as well. The hunger for knowledge has been lost in a society that is too busy with "stuff" to even have time for it, much less think it is worth the trouble. And because we convert people by emotion alone, they have no real knowledge of God and what he requires of them in holiness, purity, and obedience. When they finally hear a sermon they don't agree with, regardless of the Biblical evidence, they leave because it no longer makes them happy, or it requires a sacrifice in their lifestyles, or they are "uncomfortable" with what it means. If we manage to chase them down and make them stay, don't expect them to go ahead and swallow that nasty pill they don't like.
Finally, out of sheer desperation one day, I called Chloe and told her I had a treat for her, using the same silly tone of voice and the same excited body language as for a real treat. Then I put it on the steps, right where I put all her other treats. She gave it a sniff and looked at me sideways. "Eat your treat!" I said, even sillier sounding than before. She sighed, leaned down, picked it up and, after rolling it around in her mouth for a while, ate it. Then she walked away, looking over her shoulder at me as if she were very disappointed in such a naughty child.
Somehow we must start getting the Word into people, whether they think they want it or not. Somehow we must show them that it is indeed a "treat." Learning God's Word can be fun. Learning about God can be exhilarating. Learning about everything he did to bring us into a saving relationship with him can spark a real desire to learn more, to become more like him, changing and growing each day. That's how you develop a faith that will stand the trials of life and prepare you for an Eternity with a Father you finally know.
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. Hos 2:20
Dene Ward
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