From
MarketPlace - February 3, 2010:
I am always moved when I remember the Native American legend in which one wise, older man, sitting around a campfire on night, said: “It seems, my brothers, that I have two dogs fighting in my heart. One is a very good dog with a beautiful spirit which always watches out for my purest, cleanest and best interests; the other is a bad dog with an ugly spirit which always seeks to destroy the clean, pure side of my life – and the things I want to build up. These dogs cause a lot of suffering in my life because they are always fighting.”
A young boy asked the wise man this question: “Which one of the dogs wins the fight?” The wise man answered: “The dog that wins the fight is always the one I feed.”
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he writes: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (1:7 NLT)
Over the past weeks we’ve been talking about those fears that would keep us away from the things of God: fear of failure, of rejection, of financial ruin. God didn’t give us the spirit of fear, but of power, writes Paul. But, like the wise old man, many times we feed the spirit that doesn’t come from God.
This Sunday we conclude our series: “Overcoming Our Fear of Death.” That fear is the “worm at the core” of our beings, according to both philosophers and psychologists.Pray that God will guide us to an understanding of His power and love in such a powerful way that we will be led to feed the good things in our hearts, and depend on His presence now and forever.
God bless you.
Dave Melton