YOU DIRTY DOG! YOU ROTTEN PIG!

ANYBODY CLOSE TO ME OR MY FAMILY WOULD KNOW THAT WE HAD A GERMAN SHEPHERD NAMED REV. REV WAS VERY SWEET TO HIS FAMILY EVEN HARMLESS BUT ALSO VERY PROTECTIVE. WE ALL LOVED HIM SO MUCH. HOWEVER THERE WAS ONE THING THAT HE DID THAT MY EVERYONE AGREED WAS PRETTY DISGUSTING. SIMPLY PUT HE WOULD VOMIT AND THEN GO BACK AND LICK IT UP. AND NO MATTER HOW HUMAN REV WOULD SEEM TO US AT TIMES THIS PROVED THAT HE WAS STILL JUST A REGULAR OLE DIRTY DOG.

I CAN SEE HIM RIGHT NOW, DROOPING HIS HEAD AND GAGGING AS IF HIS STOMACH WAS UPSET. SOMETIMES HE WOULD WALK AROUND AND THROW UP TWO OR THREE TIMES ALL IN SEPARATE PLACES. AS WE WOULD ATTEMPT TO CLEAN UP HIS MESS WE WOULD HAVE TO FIGHT TO HOLD HIM BACK FROM TRYING TO LICK UP WHAT HE HAD JUST VOMITED. IT WAS DISGUSTING. AS A HUMAN THIS WAS HARD TO UNDERSTAND, CERTAINLY WE WOULD NEVER GO BACK TO THE VERY THING THAT MADE US VOMIT? WE WOULD NEVER DO THAT, AT LEAST I WOULDN'T.

NOT SO FAST!

I GUESS I'LL START WITH MYSELF AS IT MAY SEEM SELF RIGHTEOUS OF ME TO POINT THE FINGER. AS I REFLECT ON MY LIFE I SEE PATTERNS OF HOW I RETURNED TO THE SAME OLD DISGUSTING HABITS THAT MADE ME "SICK." THE VERY THING THAT HAD ME BOUND AND BEGGING GOD TO DELIVER ME I WENT RIGHT BACK TO IT. THE SAME THING THAT HAD ME CRYING MY HEART OUT TELLING GOD, "LORD IF YOU HELP ME ONE MORE TIME, I'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN," WAS THE FIRST THING THAT I WOULD GO BACK TO NOT SOON AFTER GOD CAME THROUGH FOR ME AGAIN. I DIDN'T REALIZE IT BUT I (AT LEAST MY HABITS) HAD BECOME EQUIVALENT TO A DIRTY DOG.

2ND PETER DEALS WITH THIS IN THE 2ND CHAPTER. IT TALKS ABOUT MEN WHO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND HAVE BEEN DELIVERED FROM SIN BUT TURN AWAY FROM IT TO RETURN TO THE LUST OF THEIR FLESH AND THE POLLUTIONS OF THE WORLD. THE BIBLE GOES ON TO COMPARE THEM TO DOGS THAT RETURN TO THEIR OWN VOMIT AND A PIG THAT HAS BEEN CLEAN BUT GOES RIGHT BACK INTO THE MUD THAT MADE HIM FILTHY. BEING RAISED IN CHURCH ALL MY LIFE I HAVE SEEN NUMEROUS EXAMPLES OF INDIVIDUALS WHO TRIED TO KEEP A FOOT IN THE CHURCH AND A FOOT IN THE WORLD. MOST OF THEM WERE UNABLE TO KEEP THAT FOOT IN THE CHURCH BUT OFTENTIMES WERE OVERCOME BY THE WORLD THAT THEY WILLINGLY RETURNED TO.

THE BIBLE SAYS THAT WHEN WE BECOME LIKE THIS "OUR LATTER END IS WORSE THAN IN THE BEGINNING. THAT BEING SAID WE'VE GOT TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT GIVING IN TO OUR CARNAL DESIRES, AND NOT LAYING ASIDE THE SIN WHICH SO EASILY BESETS US. DON'T DECEIVE YOURSELF GOD'S EXPECTATION OF YOU IS THAT IF YOU ARE SAVED THAT YOU DO NOT CONTINUE IN SIN. THE BIBLE IS CLEAR ON THIS. CHECK OUT 1JOHN 3:2-10, ROMANS 6:12, JOHN 5:14, & JOHN 8:11. THERE ARE SO MANY MORE SCRIPTURES TO THIS POINT.

AT THE END OF THE DAY MOST OF US MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND SITUATIONS THAT WE FIND OURSELVES IN. IN FACT FOR MANY OF US IT IS BECAUSE OF OUR OWN SINS AND DISOBEDIENCE WHETHER IT WAS AN ACT OF COMMISSION OR OMISSION. THE TRUTH IS MOST OF US CAN SAY "THE ENEMY DIDN'T GET US HERE BUT HE SURE IS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF WHERE WE'VE PLACED OURSELVES." WE MUST BE CAREFUL THAT WE DON'T FIND OURSELVES BEING LIKE THAT DOG THAT 2PETER SPEAKS OF RETURNING TO THE THING THAT MAKES US SICK. I THINK GOD FOR HIS GRACE AND MERCY BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE TO KEEP ME OR YOU. BUT THANK GOD THAT HE "KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER THE GODLY OUT OF TEMPTATION.

PLEASE DON'T BE A DIRTY DOG, OR A ROTTEN PIG. I REMEMBER MY MOM LOVING REV SO MUCH THAT SHE WISHED SHE WOULD SEE HIM AGAIN IN HEAVEN. BUT THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT "ALL DOGS" DON'T GO TO HEAVEN IN FACT NONE OF THEM DO; NOT HUMAN DOGS AND NOT SPIRITUAL DOGS. ACCORDING TO REVELATION 22:14-15 DOGS NEVER MAKE IT INSIDE THE GATES.

WILL YOU?