Dog Doo-Doo Person

11/19/1989

Part of the perspective of the tools that God uses to bring us down that path is something that I was talking with someone about recently. It was an analogy that I knew I couldn’t keep from sharing too long, because it seems so appropriate. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. It’s faith, even our faith. This is the victory that overcomes the world. The way to live that flawless life is from faith to faith. Not legalism, but knowledge of God’s faithfulness, that He loves us. He is going to stand by us, and our heritage is Christ. Our heritage is eternal realms. If we have really made a covenant with God, if we really have given our lives to Jesus and come under His blood, if we have had our sins forgiven and been adopted into His family, then there is hope. It’s that hope that doesn’t disappoint. It’s that hope that we have. It’s that faith that we have in Him and the inner changes in our life and the knowledge of His faithfulness that gives us the strength to not sin.

I have been very unsuccessful being motivated by fear in my life. Sometimes it helps, and I’m not afraid of that. But I’ve realized that the thing that has made the most difference in my life for the long haul has been the knowledge of God’s love for me, and His faithfulness to stand by me even when I fail. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. There are a lot of responses you can have when you fall on your face.

This was the analogy I thought was so appropriate: We had a van packed with children driving away from the gym after basketball. All of a sudden, this odor overtook us. Someone said, “Did someone step in dog doo-doo?” Sure enough, that’s what that aroma was, and it was smeared all over the carpet in the van. So we did a shoe check, and we discovered who it was. This wasn’t a small thing - it was ankle deep. It was bad! Here’s what happened: we discovered a problem. We discovered dog “doo-doo” in the car. Well, here’s the response (there are a whole bunch of different responses, but you will recognize what I am saying). “Well fine then, if it’s me that did it, fine then, I’ll just walk home.”

We have a problem here. We can solve the problem and go on if we are secure and we know where we are going, if in fact we have been bought by Jesus Christ, by the ransom. If we have been purchased by the Son of God, for Him to present to the Father blameless before His glorious throne. Then we messed up, something happened. We stepped in something, but we are going on, because our inheritance is secure. It’s been purchased in a very secure way by the blood of Jesus, if we live for Him, if our hearts belong to Him, if we are married to Him. If we’ve made covenant with Him, then it’s secure.

But if we go away saying, “Well fine then, I must just be the dog ‘doo-doo’ person and you wouldn’t want me around anyway”, that kind of attitude is destructive. It’s not faith from first to last. It’s not the kind of attitude that will overcome sin to say, “Well I guess that’s just the way I am, look what I did, aren’t I terrible. I guess I’ll just walk home now.” As I look around the room, I’ve heard those words, “I’m just the dog ‘doo-doo’ person; I might as well walk home then.” I’ve heard those words in a lot of different scenarios and situations. The alternative to that of course is to say, “I stepped in something, and it smells really bad, but let’s clean it off and get on with it. Let’s go. I’m secure because I know that my Father loves me and I know where I’m going. I made a mistake, but I’m not the dog ‘doo-doo’ person. I just stepped in something. It’s not who I am, it’s just a mistake that I made.”

I’ve found that my ability to go through a week without a lot of sin in my life has a whole lot more to do not with a commitment to not sin, as it does with just a peace and a security that my Father loves me. I have faith in Him; He’s faithful. Let God be true and every man a liar, a verse brought out to us sometime back that just keeps echoing. All right, so I stepped in something. I messed up, but I’m secure because of the blood of Jesus Christ. If He gave His son, how much more all things, as Paul said in Romans 8. I don’t need to worry. I can adjust and change. That kind of grace in my heart doesn’t give me license for sinning. Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? Certainly not, how ridiculous. But it’s grace that makes the putting to death the misdeeds of the body possible. The grace of God appeared to all men teaching them to say no to ungodliness. It’s grace that gives us the courage to go on and to live in freedom. Not the brutality to the flesh, but the grace of God and a gaze towards Him, if in fact we’re in covenant with Him.