puppy joy

I have a puppy. She is almost 5 months old. There were often times when I would go to let her out of her crate and notice that she had peed everywhere and, apparently not caring too much, laid in her own mess. But when I came to the crate door she would go crazy! Her mouth was open; her body was grooving; her tail whipping around. She didn't seem to remember how gross she was. In her joy of seeing me--and probably anyone else who would let her out--she disregarded her mess and stinky odor.

We should be more like her. We are constantly screwing up and making significant messes. But God continues to come; God continues to love. I am not at all saying we should be cool with our sin; but because of repentance and what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf we should not refuse joy. 

For some reason, I have a meter in my mind: if I sin I have to wait a certain time limit before being okay with God, before I can crack a smile. This is a lie, though. There is not a word in the bible about mortifying yourself for God, for repentance. John Owen, a long-time dead guy, said that we have to be killing sin or sin will be killing us. This is true. But we are not to be like the priest in The Scarlet Letter who would wound himself after committing sin. No, Jesus died for our sin; we need to add nothing. I don't want to sin and I don't want you to sin but, as the end of the book of Jude reminds us, it is God who will keep us from stumbling and who will present us without blemish and in joy before the Father. 

We should be quick to remember our Savior's strength, not our sinful succumbing. Because of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, sin is no longer a gateway to wrath; Jesus has tread on sin and unplugged its power. 

So we have the opportunity for joy, even in our messes, for God has done what we could not; he took a three-day trip where we would have been obligated to live; he undid all that we made and gave all that we could never earn. So we could wag our tails in his presence.