Who Are You Feeding?

4th Day Letters

July 3, 2012

There is an old tale about an Indian who becomes a Christian after a missionary Tale of two dogs shares the Bible story with him. When the missionary returns to the village months later, he asks the Indian how he is doing. The Indian says, "It is like there are two dogs inside of me. One is good. The other is bad. They fight all the time." The missionary asks, "Which one wins?" To this the Indian replies, "Whichever one I feed the most."

Isn't this true for all of us? Don't we spend a good amount of our life fighting the bad dogs of greed, power, envy, lust, anger, pride and many more?

In 2Corinthians 5:17 we read that when we trust in God, we become a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. We are a new creation. Even though the old self is dead the battle is not over. Like a mean and angry dog, the old self continues to wage war with us, tempting us to indulge in old behaviors. Therefore we must spend enough time feeding the "good dog"so that we can be the person God created us to be.

How much time do you spend feeding the bad dog verses feeding the good dog? In other words how much time do we spend daily in prayer and study? Summer time is for many people vacation time. Often our already too little time in prayer or study is even further reduced as we get away from our regular routines. Just where do we spend our time?

Here are some recent time statistics I read:

On average people spend 40 minutes a day, 20 hours a month, 10 days a year or 2 years of a lifetime on the phone.
On average people spend 1 hour a day, 30 hours a month, 15 days a year, or 3 years in a lifetime in the bathroom.
On average people spend 3 hours a day, 90 hours a month, 45 days a year, or 9 years of a lifetime watching TV.
On average people spend 8 hours a week, 24 hours a month or 12 days a year or 2.4 years on Facebook
On average people spend 1.4 hours a day, 42 hours a month, 21 days a year or 4.2 years a lifetime looking at pornography.
On average a Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day, 6 hours a month, 3 days a year, or 7 months in a lifetime in prayer.

So I ask you, what dog are you feeding? We must spend quality time both in prayer and in study with our Lord.

Here we are as Americans in the week of our Independence Day. We celebrate our freedom and independence. While celebrating our political freedom and our country's independence is clearly a reason to celebrate I want to ask you to ponder this thought.

In this physical world we love our independence. But in our spiritual world we truly gain our SPIRITUAL FREEDOM when we acknowledge our DEPENDENCE on Jesus Christ. We cannot break the chains of sin without Him. By professing that it is through Him, in Him and with Him that we are saved, when we accept that our freedom comes from our dependence not independence we can be free.

So in conclusion, if we accept our Freedom comes from Christ, then we must make time "must feed the good dog" within us. We must find time to be with Him in prayer and study. Make time every day!

As you celebrate Independence Day be reminded we also should celebrate Dependence Day on Christ. Amen.

Which dog will you feed today?

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Your Brother In Christ,

Brian

J. Brian Pusateri

Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead for the forgiveness of my sins and I profess Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

Every Tuesday, I share thoughts and ideas designed to inspire and motivate Christian leaders into action. You have been added to this distribution list as someone I thought might want to receive this information. Many who receive this email have made a Cursillo weekend or other weekends like Walk to Emmaus or Via De Cristo or are involved in Kairos weekends. I also know that many who receive this email are not Catholic as I am, but we do share a common belief in Jesus as our Ssavior. From time to time my message may be a little more from a Catholic perspective but please accept the fact that I seek to find those areas that unite our belief in the same Lord while at the same time realizing that we do worship differently. If you know others who would like to receive these emails click the "Forward Email" link below. If you wish to be removed from this list let me know that as well. My goal is that we all come to accept our Christian calling with a stronger conviction and that together we can change this world for Jesus Christ!