The Cat
“I want you to ask yourself, where have you opened the door to this world? Confess it and close it. What lies have you begun to start believing. Confess them and turn from them. Close the door”
– Tony Walliser, Senior Pastor ~ Silverdale Baptist Church, Chattanooga, TN.
“… but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” – James 1:14-15 NIV
Most mornings, Mali the Dog and I had developed a sort of ritual. After my alarm clock would go off, I would throw on a shirt, shorts and shoes, and Mali and I would walk out the front door to the end of the driveway to get the morning newspaper.
The door would open… Mali would walk with her master… as close to him as possible without getting under foot. Yet, the walk to the paper would almost always be full of a surprise or two. Each day bringing its own.
One day, it may have been the Labrador Retriever next door fetching the paper for her master.
Or it may have been the lady down the street walking her two little yip-yip dogs in front of our house.
Or quite possibly it would be a couple of doves resting on a low tree branch.
With each “surprise” Mali would cock her head and push her ears forward… sniffing and visually examining the situation…prepared to make a dash to investigate closer. But as she would prepare, her master would lightly touch her or snap his fingers and she would refocus on the mission at hand. Always staying with her master as he turned back toward the house.
However, one fateful day Mali spied a cat.
Now, the cat saw Mali first and did like most tempting cats would do – it froze and tried to make itself small. It knew it had been seen. It knew that the enemy loved to chase cats. It was prepared to dash away at a blink of an eye, drawing the enemy away with it.
When Mali saw the cat, she stopped and stared for a moment. Not wanting to let the cat or her master know that she had seen the temptation. Her ears pushed forward. Her tail rose into the air. And she walked with her master.
Though she tried to play it off like she wasn’t paying any attention to it, Mali’s eyes never left the cat.
And the cat did the same… trying to pretend that it didn’t see the big dog.
Yet, it never moved… It never lost eye contact with the dog.
The tension was rising as Mali continued to walk.
Her master, also seeing the cat, stopped… picked up the newspaper… and turned to return to the house.
“Don’t think that we don’t see you,” the master said as he caught the cat’s eyes.
And the cat tried to shrink a little more.
At that moment, Mali bent her legs and prepared to chase her temptation… prepared to dash away from her master and pursue her deepest momentary desire.
Mali was ready.
The cat was ready.
All systems were on go.
The countdown was near zero.
“Mali… No,” was all her master had to whisper and all that she needed to hear.
Mali the Dog continued to walk with the master back to the house. The temptation had passed. The door was closed.
Every day we are tempted.
Every day something or some things are thrown into our face, come our way that vie for our focus… for our attention… for our lives.
How will we respond?
How will we react?
Do we know the voice of the Master?
In the midst of those tempting moments… in the midst of the battle, do we hear His voice?
Do we respond?
Do we continue to walk with the Master?
Or do we chase after the temptations of the day… the focus of the moment… the demon that has come to steal and kill and destroy?
What do we do when face temptation or when the demons attack?
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
“In the synagogues there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!“ But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be silent and come out of him!” And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all.”
– Luke 4:33-35
