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YOU AND YOUR LEASH

I took our puppy, Molly, through the garage and outdoors, to her “place of relief.” Coming back in, I dropped the leash and let her run to the house door on her own. Before running to the door she took the end of her leash in her mouth, then proudly ran to the door.

How human of this puppy, to want to control both ends of her leash.

Yes, I know. It’s a poor metaphor. God doesn’t want to keep us on a leash. But let’s work with it anyway.

When the Serpent said to Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You may not eat of any tree in the garden’?” it was teasing her with both ends of the leash.

When the Devil tempted Jesus with, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me,” he was hoping to be given one end of the leash.

No, God doesn’t have us on a leash, but God does set some limits, and commandS us to honor them. Often, we’d rather not. We’d rather control both ends of the leash; we’d rather set our own limits.

Yes, God is forgiving, but before we ask for that, we’d better check the status of the leash.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EarlyWord is written by Pastor Dick Williams, Akron, OH, Advocate for Jesus of Nazareth. New readers are always welcome. To receive EarlyWord by email each morning send your name and email address after clicking box above/left. Comments are invited.