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“As a Dog Returns to Its Vomit”
By Sheldon Smith
One day while watching television with the kids in the family room, our dog – apparently having eaten something that irritated her stomach threw up on the carpet right in front of one of the sofas. The kids reacted in horror and even my wife was disgusted at the sight. But I decided to use the occasion as a teachable moment. I told the kids to leave the regurgitated dog food right where it was and that the dog would return to it. One of my daughters said, “Daddy that’s gross,” to which I replied, “Dogs return to their vomit – the Bible says so.” (Proverbs 26:11)
However, the more important message the bible is trying to teach us – one I had to take to heart as a young man – is this: Christ did not redeem me from my sin for me to return right back to it.
My Bible tells me to not be in bondage to sin.
2 Peter 2:20-22 reads:
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
Once repenting of our sins and being redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ through baptism, we are freed – no longer in bondage – to that sin as the Israelites were free after fleeing from captivity in Egypt (Exodus 14).
Romans 6:1-14 reads:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
If we have sincerely put on Christ, then we have died to sin. The above scripture paints the picture of a believer – having repented of his or her sins – being buried in water as Christ was buried in the earth and rising up a new creature as Christ was resurrected. In this picture, the old sinful man who was in bondage to sin was put to death and a new, redeemed person rises having fellowship with Jesus through burial in water.
The grace provided to us by our Lord and Savior is part of a New Covenant between God and us. This covenant brought an end to the repetitive animal sacrifices required for sin under the Old Law or Covenant through the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made with His blood as His body hung on the cross. Each Sunday, we remember Christ’s death through communion (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34) and are reminded by the scriptures that our participation in this Lord’s Supper must be done in a “worthy” manner. To do so requires constant reflection and an understanding of the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf.
One way to make sure we are worthy is to walk vigilantly. Ephesians 5:15-21 tells us:
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Are you tired of living in bondage to sin? Do you desire to walk in a newness of life? Are you interested in being baptized into Christ?
If so, feel free to pay us a visit. You can also message us on Facebook or send us an email to blackstonecoc256@gmail.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
