I promised the kids that when I finished school, we would get a dog. We went Saturday afternoon and picked out a beautiful little lab mix from the animal shelter. Her name is Abby. Now we get to endure the wonderful phase of house training. Joy.
She's pretty smart, so it's been going pretty well. In fact, she has been a quick learner all around. When she wants to be, anyway.
It kinda reminds me of our relationship with God. We hear God when we want to. When a treat is in hand, we come running. When it's time to stop chewing on that thing we shouldn't be chewing on, we seem to be pretty good at pretending we don't hear God say "No!"
But eventually she will learn. Sure, she'll 'forget' every now and then. She'll mess up, slip up, call it what you want. She will disobey. But as puppies grow into dogs, if they are trained right, they will become obedient and faithful to their masters.
As a child of God, do you find yourself becoming more obedient to God? We all 'mess up' (it's called sin). We all misbehave. But as we progress through life, we should find ourselves becoming more and more obedient and faithful to our Father in heaven.
I'm looking forward to the day when Abby hears my voice and obeys me. Are you listening to and obeying the voice of God?