Are you trying to dry clean a dead cat?
While my grandfather was here over the last weekend he shared a story with me that is hilarious, but I can defiantly teach on. I thought I’d share it with you today and my take on it. There were two neighbors. The first neighbor had a cat and the other a dog. The dog never got along with the cat and one day to the horror of the second neighbor the dog came home carrying the dead cat in its mouth. The cat was a mess. It was dirty and its hair matted. So the neighbor washed the dead cat up, dried it with a hair dryer and brushed its fur so that it was clean. In the night he snuck over to his neighbor’s porch to put the dead cat on the mat in front of the door. He didn’t want to admit to the neighbor that it was his dog that had killed the cat. The days went by. The owner of the dog didn’t hear anything much about the cat from his neighbor and the suspense was eating at him. Finally several weeks later the neighbor decided to ask the cat owner what happened to his cat because he hadn’t seen it over on his property lately. He’d prepared his speech to make his question sound as nonchalant has possible. To which the neighbor responded, “You know the funniest thing happened with that cat. It died. I buried it and it show up on my back porch dry cleaned the next day.”
People treat sin much as they do the dead cat. They don’t want to admit to the sin in their lives so they try to sugar coat it. They try to dry clean it and make it look pretty because they think just maybe they might get away with the act. It’s like we try to deceive ourselves and the world around us by thinking just maybe if I smile really cute they won’t realize what is really on the inside. No matter how many times that neighbor tried to wash and dry clean that cat that cat is still dead.
1 John 7-9 says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The more we try to lie to ourselves about our sin the more we have a door open to deception in our lives. God wants for us to just confess it, repent and move on with our walk in Him. The more we try to lie to ourselves thinking we’re going to get away with the sin the further we fall. I always say that I believe most of the battle of getting rid of sin in our lives is admitting to ourselves that we have this sin that we need to get rid of. Because once we’ve stopped trying to sugar coat it we can see that it’s there, let it go, and change our action.
Jeremiah 25:5 says, “They said, ‘Repent now every one of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.”
Serving the Lord does not mean your perfect. But we must be humble enough before God to admit your sin. If you want to move forward from the place you are now, and step into what God wants for you you’ll stop trying to lie to yourself about those little things in your life. You’ll stop trying to dry clean the dead cats and just accept their dead. Repent before the Lord. Admit to yourself that it’s sin. Turn from your ways, and go forward in the things of God.
Ask yourself what sin have you tried to sugar coat and dry clean before God? What are you trying to hide .Jeremiah 17:10 says” I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” While you may think you can be fooling everyone, you’re not fooling God. He sees what is going on. Search your heart today. Admit to God in the areas you’ve messed up. Be honest with yourself, and those around you. No matter how many times you may try to wash and dry clean a dead cat “sin” it’s still dead. Call it what it is. Come before the Lord and repent. Make a vow that from this day forward you will go forward and leave that dead cat and never pick it back up again. You’ll be glad you did.
People treat sin much as they do the dead cat. They don’t want to admit to the sin in their lives so they try to sugar coat it. They try to dry clean it and make it look pretty because they think just maybe they might get away with the act. It’s like we try to deceive ourselves and the world around us by thinking just maybe if I smile really cute they won’t realize what is really on the inside. No matter how many times that neighbor tried to wash and dry clean that cat that cat is still dead.
1 John 7-9 says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The more we try to lie to ourselves about our sin the more we have a door open to deception in our lives. God wants for us to just confess it, repent and move on with our walk in Him. The more we try to lie to ourselves thinking we’re going to get away with the sin the further we fall. I always say that I believe most of the battle of getting rid of sin in our lives is admitting to ourselves that we have this sin that we need to get rid of. Because once we’ve stopped trying to sugar coat it we can see that it’s there, let it go, and change our action.
Jeremiah 25:5 says, “They said, ‘Repent now every one of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.”
Serving the Lord does not mean your perfect. But we must be humble enough before God to admit your sin. If you want to move forward from the place you are now, and step into what God wants for you you’ll stop trying to lie to yourself about those little things in your life. You’ll stop trying to dry clean the dead cats and just accept their dead. Repent before the Lord. Admit to yourself that it’s sin. Turn from your ways, and go forward in the things of God.
Ask yourself what sin have you tried to sugar coat and dry clean before God? What are you trying to hide .Jeremiah 17:10 says” I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” While you may think you can be fooling everyone, you’re not fooling God. He sees what is going on. Search your heart today. Admit to God in the areas you’ve messed up. Be honest with yourself, and those around you. No matter how many times you may try to wash and dry clean a dead cat “sin” it’s still dead. Call it what it is. Come before the Lord and repent. Make a vow that from this day forward you will go forward and leave that dead cat and never pick it back up again. You’ll be glad you did.
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