I ran across this on facebook, and it puts succinctly what I have have been struggling to put into words, so I thought I’d share it.
An old Cherokee man told his grandson
“My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is evil, with anger, jealousy, hate, bitterness, envy, inferiority, egos and lies. The other is a good, with love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control”
The boy thought about it an asked ” Grandfather, which wolf wins”
The grandfather answered ” The one you feed”
We as Christians do have a dual nature. we have the spirit, born again…born anew and of God, and we have the flesh…corrupt evil and full of worldly desires. These two forces battle constantly in our soul. (mind will and emotions) and the strongest one invariably wins.
We hear the question repeated, is it okay for Christians to watch this, or listen to this kind of music, to go to these places, and do these things.To answer that question you need the wisdom to know which wolf you are feeding.
As Christians living in the world, in fleshly bodies, it is impossible to insulate ourselves from the evil of the world. We are exposed to it daily, it enters our eyes, it enters our ears. But we can control what we entertain. Our we focusing on the good and lovely things, or are we indulging in the dark and dirty things? Does it cause us harm to gossip with the Kardashians, laugh at people embarrassing themselves on American Idol, listening to the rapper telling us how they are going to “(expletive deleted) up the (expletive deleted)”
Yes I think it does, for it feeds the wolf of the flesh and makes it strong in its battle against the things of God. And which of us can say we do not suffer loss in these battles?
2nd Corinthians 6
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
17 Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”
And
1 Peter 1
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
So as we have been told from the beginning, feed the good wolf, with good and lovely things, the word of God, Christian music, things that bless the soul….and if you MUST feed that other wolf, do so sparingly.
I know it may sound extreme, but this is the way to a truly successful Christian Life. God has shown us the way, all we need to do….is to do it
