Good Dog or Bad Dog- We All Have Both In Us

Good Dog or Bad Dog

A friend once told me that I could be either a good dog or a bad dog. I wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, because I thought I was a good dog already. After talking with her about it, she went on to explain that I was going through a spiritual awakening of sorts. One that would take my faith to another level, but would also come with the challenges of the dark side. When we are faithful and growing in our relationship with Jesus, the devil will mess with us and try to sway us away. The Devil does not want us to be successful. The devil will do whatever he can to deceive us and make us a bad dog.

He wants us to be a bad dog. One that will bite the hand that feeds it, one that chases after things that are harmful, one that barks at people to intimidate them. God on the other hand wants us to be a good dog. One that is loyal, obedient, trusting and friendly to others. We all have seen good and bad dogs at some point in our lives. I remember growing up as a kid my friends and I would ride bikes (do kids even ride bikes now), I certainly hope so. Anyways, back to the story of the bikes. We would ride to the store, friends houses, school and wherever else we could. On our regular route there was this one dog.

He was a huge German Shepard and he would sit at the edge of his driveway and wait for us to come by. We were scared of him so we would get as much speed as we could and go flying by screaming and laughing. Unfortunately for me, I was the biggest kid on the block so generally I was the slowest and came the closest to getting bit every time. I had to pedal twice as hard as the other kids to stay safe and go fast enough to avoid the bad dog. That big dog would get right beside the back tire and he would growl, bark and try to bite the tire. One day I was going too fast and wiped out on the road. I ate pavement over the handle bars and cut myself up pretty good. I just knew I was going to get eaten alive by that bad dog.

Amazingly, the dog stopped and actually started trying to lick me and crawl on me. You see, we had misjudged that dog because it chased us, barked at us and made us go faster on our bikes. In reality, it was a good dog that just had a simple character flaw. The owner later told me that the dog loved to chase anything, bikes, the mailman, balls, joggers, you name it. After that day the dog waited at the end of the driveway, chased us, barked at us and got right next to somebody's tire growling and barking like he was going to tear a foot off or eat the tire. He had formed a habit of behavior that was hard for him to break. He was a good dog overall, but his demeanor of barking, growling and chasing made people think he was a bad dog.

As humans we all have the good or bad dog inside of us. Either one can come out at any time and it is up to us to decide which one we will be. Will we be the devil dog and bite people, bark at people and chase them away. Or will we be the good dog and nurture people, be faithful and obedient to God's word. We will end up being the dog that we nurture inside of us. If we walk with God and build good habits or kindness, compassion and love for others then our inner good dog will shine through and people will see that. God will be pleased with us and help us grow that good dog.

If we chose to grow the bad dog by being rude, mean, unhappy and unwelcoming to others. Then, God will still love us, but he will not be happy about our sin and lack of compassion for others. God is constant and he is man's best friend for sure. He is number one and like a great family pet, he is faithful, happy and concerned for our well-being. Do you want to be a good dog or a bad dog?

Do you present yourself in a manner that people would think you are a good dog?
Do you present yourself in a manner that would make God see you are a bad dog?

God, help me to be the person you want me to be. Help me grow the good dog inside of me. One that cares, has compassion and helps others. I pray for your grace, mercy and guidance daily as I grow my inner "Good Dog". Amen

Proverbs 26:11 "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly".

God Bless! KB

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