Spiritual lessons from the world's smartest dog.

Promise: This is the most epic story you’ve heard in the last week. Book it.

No embellishment. No exaggerated details. Just true awesomeness.

So I got a voice message from a stranger saying they found my dog.

Now that’s weird.

I was the last one home and I distinctly remember locking up.

Probably just a crank call right?

No. I walk into the house. Everything looks the same as I left it.
Doors locked. Fenced shut. No one’s been in or out.

I whistle.
Milo, the star of last weeks 'spiritual lessons from the world's dumbest dog' post came trotting along.
No MJ.

I search everywhere. Nothing.

I head down the street and sure enough there was MJ.
How in the world did a 120 pound dog make it out of my house with all the doors locked?

I’ll tell you how but you won’t believe me cause I didn’t believe it either.

But the evidence was right there.

The screen from our second floor window was broken.

Could it be?

No way.

Yes way.

Look, there’s hair all over the screen.

Can you believe it?

My dog jumped out of the second floor window cause she didn’t want to go number 2 in the house.

Unbelievable.

But true. She luckily fell on overgrown bushes and didn’t get hurt.

For some reason she just NEVER makes a mess in the house unless she has absolutely no choice.

I guess last week, she figured jumping out a 2 story house was a choice.

Can you imagine if we had the same attitude and disdain towards sin?

Imagine if we went to any length to avoid sin.

But Sammy, Its okay if we mess up cause Jesus will clean it up.

Yes he will. Because he said so.

But you know what else Jesus said?

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. [Matthew 5:29-30]

I know we all say we hate sin and we want to be free.

But truth is, most of us aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to be free from sin.

• We’re not willing to cut ourselves free from good things that cause us to sin.

• We’re not willing to throw our computer out the window because we struggle with porn.
  [what about email? really? destroy your life cause of email?]

• We’re not willing to walk away from friends who consistently cause us to sin.
  [Come on, even you are no longer buying the whole I’m a witness argument anymore]

• We’re not willing to confess our sins one to another.
  [I already did to Jesus so I don’t need to do that. K. I wonder why God even bothered to put that in scriptures then].

• We’re not willing to not make out with our girlfriends/boyfriends.
  [we’re getting married anyways. Famous last words before we engage in impurity]

• We’re not willing to seek counseling. Close our face-book accounts. Go without a phone. Be honest about our addictions. Set boundaries. Change the channel. Stop watching questionable movies that look interesting. Walk away from that emotional affair. Start exercising. etc etc.

I know freedom from sin is only possible through Christ and his grace. But you gotta be willing to bleed and fight.

Matt Chandler calls it grace-driven effort. I love it. True grace doesn't go down without a fight.

We gotta get desperate enough to jump out of a second floor window and risk losing something so we can gain something.

We gotta hate sin that much. Otherwise, what else are we doing?

Why don't we really hate sin or do whatever it takes to fight it?