Basset hounds, the dog books warn, are hard to train, because they have minds of their own. Bassets do as they wish, not as they’re told. Thankfully, our Belle usually only “wishes” to sleep. But when the right mood strikes…when her nose tempts, or her strong will overrides her sleepy nature…then Belle the basset hound gets stung.
Literally.
On three different occasions, Belle was stung by a bee, right on the face.
The first time it happened, her cheek swelled up to the size of a golf ball, so her droopy face drooped even lower. Last week, Belle pestered a bee on the screen door until it stung her on the nose. She licked her lips and shook her head, surprised. “What was that?”
It was the same thing that stung you twice already! And it’s going to keep stinging you until you learn to keep your nose away from bees. Sting me once, shame on the bee. Sting me twice…or three times…shame on me.
“Crazy dog,” we shrug. “When will she learn?” But spiritually speaking, are we really so different? When sin entices–when the enemy “buzzes” around to tempt our hearts and minds–too often we defiantly and foolishly give chase.
And, we get stung.
We have plenty of reasons to explain the sting. We blame our pastors for not teaching enough, our parents for not caring enough, our friends for not accepting enough, and our spouses for not supporting enough. We give excuse after excuse for why we flirt with temptation after temptation. We like to complain about getting stung, but really we should simply Stop. Playing. With. Bees.
Stop envying. Stop lying. Stop gossiping. Stop entertaining impure thoughts, or carrying out impure actions. Stop justifying and excusing sin.
Just stop.
Is it hard? Yes. Impossible? No. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) When we let it, God’s Spirit will empower us to not sin. We can stop!
And we must.
Stop, or be stung.
Previous Lessons from a Basset Hound:
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I reckon that once a basset hound gets her nose onto a scent, even if it is coloured black and yellow and buzzes in an intriguing (if somehow familiar way ..?), then it is hard for them to back off. There is no such thing, as best as I can tell, as a 'bad' smell for a basset hound …
Good encouragement today.