A Wolf At The Door

While I don’t spend an inordinate amount of time on social media, I do participate some. It’s always interesting to see what my friends are posting on Twitter and Facebook, understanding that much of what we see has to be taken with a grain of salt. Whether quotes are attributed to Steve Jobs, Steve Forbes, or Steve Austin (you children of the ’70’s will get that in a minute), truth is truth — regardless of who is saying it.

I saw a story on a friend’s Facebook page the other day, and found it interesting. It went something like this…

An old Cherokee once told his grandson, “Son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.”

The boy thought about it for a bit, and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”

The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

— author unknown

Wow! What an amazing analogy of the life of the Spirit. As human beings living in a fallen world, though redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we must continually be on our guard against feeding the “wolf” of the flesh. If we spend all of our time on pursuits and interests that do not bring us closer to the heart of God, we cannot expect to have any kind of Holy Ghost power in our lives. Is your dust-covered Bible the tell-tale sign of a life spend on pursuing money, notoriety, popularity, possessions, entertainment, and lust? Are you spending so much time and energy worrying about staying alive that you have forgotten how to live? Paul had this to say about where our thought life should reside…

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ~ Philippians 4:8

In Mark 8:36-37, Jesus asks a very poignant question…

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

But it all really boils down to this…

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ~ Luke 12:34

Jesus makes it painfully clear with this sentence that what is in your “treasure box” is a direct reflection of what is in your heart. If your treasure is devoid of evidence of the Spirit, it’s probably time to re-evaluate, not just your priorities, but your commitment to the Savior.

So which creature are you feeding? Are you feeding a wolf that may stay quiet for a time, but will eventually devour you?

Or…

Are you feeding a creature that looks — not like a wolf — but like the Lamb of God, who “takes away the sins of the world”?