Stop Your Whining

I just recently bought a 2 month old Golden Retriever. His name is Indiana (Indy for short). He's adorable. I had a Golden named Sunny for 8 years. Sadly he developed a brain tumor and had to be put down a few weeks before Christmas 2011. I was devastated. He had been a close companion that followed my every move for all those years. I couldn't believe I had to let him go. I missed Sunny so much. He was a great dog. He would go swimming with us. He loved to play ball. He was just a fun and loving dog.

So I decided to purchase another puppy, forgetting what it is to have a new baby around the house. I'm not a morning person, but now I'm up at 7am or earlier to feed Indy, and to let him out, and to play with him, and to make sure he doesn't eat the house. I have to supervise his every move. I'm used to sitting down in the evening and doing some work on my iPad, but since Indy has come along I find it's next to impossible to do anything, but follow him around and make sure he doesn't pee, poop or eat something that might kill him or, worse yet, make me want to kill him.

 I'm looking forward to him growing up to being a mature, loving, obedient, and loyal companion that I know Goldies can be. In the meantime, I've got to get him through this learning stage. I've got to let him explore and correct him to keep him on the right path. I've got to protect him and feed him 3 to 4 meals a day to make sure he grows up to be strong and healthy. Indy needs special food because he can't chew the solid foods that a normal mature dog can eat. He requires my constant attention.

In the same way, when we first become Christians we're pretty much like Indy. We are excited. We need nurturing and protecting. We need a mentor to shadow us and teach us along the way. We need constant feeding and encouragement. But there comes a time when we should be able to stand on our own two feet. The word should be planted deeply inside us at this point and we should be looking to impact our world for Christ. We should be ready for solid food. However, this is not the case with many Christians. There are so many who have been serving Christ for many, many years, but they still need constant nurturing, encouragement, teaching and discipline. They get their way by whining and demanding the constant attention of leadership. Hebrews 5:14 tells us, "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

 Are you still whining for attention or are you teaching and helping others? Do you require constant nurturing and cuddling? Let's always be growing and moving forward in our faith. If someone is constantly chasing behind the immature Christians there is no time to impact the world of non-believers out there. Let's stop salting the already-salted and be the salt and the light for the rest of the world. Now, I must go and feed my puppy again. He's crying for his food. He knows how to use his whining to get attention.