Don't Let Your Wolves Consume You

Transferred.... from 11/11/07

You'll have to deal with the randomness of the way my brain works for this one. I was in church recently and the pastor was talking about sheep and how they need a shepherd to keep them safe. Somehow I went from this to wolves, to a wolf chasing the shepherd, to a wolf gnawing on the shepherd's ankle, to a pack of wolves attacking the shepherd. I promise this is not a blog about some gruesome death.



But it did get me thinking. While I was thinking about the one wolf gnawing on the shepherd's leg, for some reason a couple of verses in Matthew came to mind. These verses say "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to e thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:29,30)



So if you are not following my random thought process here, the single wolf is my sin. If I have this sin gnawing at my ankle, I have two choices.



The first is that I can choose to keep fighting the wolf. I can choose to kick and scream and rely on myself and my strength to fight the wolf, little at a time. The problem is that wolves travel in packs. The wolf is sure to have friends. Other friends who will come and feed on me. They will keep eating at me until they have consumed me.



Sin works this way. Many of us think that we can do this on our own. If we can just fight hard enough, it won't be a problem. If we can just be stronger than the wolf in our life, we can fix all of our problems single handedly. But one sin often leads to another. Drunkenness leads to lust. Greed leads to idolatry. Hearsay leads to bitterness, which leads to contempt, or fury. You may start with only one wolf, but his friends are not far behind him, waiting to consume you.



You do have a second choice, though. You can choose to cut off your ankle and run for safety. You can always run home. It may seem too painful to bear, but cutting off you ankle is better than loosing your life to your wolf.



Sometimes it seems so hard to cut our sin out of our lives because it is all we know. We feel like there is no other way to live, or like we wouldn't know how to live without our sin. Or some of us, I'll admit I'm one of them, don't want to admit we have the sin, or don't want others to see the changes we make and realize just how bad off we were.



As scary is all of that is, the wolfs that will consume your future is much scarier. If we can just make a clean break, we can break free of our sin and run towards God's light. It may be painful at first, but in the end, it is worth it. My eternity is worth it. Ephesians 4:22-24 says "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.



It's funny how the bible repeats things. I think its God's way of telling us "Hey! Look at this! It's important!" It has been a while now for me since I decided to cut my ankle off and run for home. It was awkward at first, even lonely. But it is the best decision I have ever made. If you are feeling consumed by the wolves in your life, I urge you to cut your losses. Don't just keep with the status quo because it is all you know. Cut the sin that binds you out of your life.