Canine Christianity

My wife has a Yorkshire Terrier. He is a great dog for the most part. He is smart, easy to train and sometimes he seems to understand English. (A fact that is all the more amazing as he is a born Berliner.) The other day I was cooling off in the yard after a long run and he was out doing his patrol. I called him over to pet him as I sat there, and he came sprinting across to be with me. He loves our attention and always wants to be in the pack. If he can be the center of attention in any situation he can’t contain his joy.

On the other hand, when we call him just to get him to come inside, or because we need to do something he doesn’t like, he somehow knows. He will pretend to be a deaf dog. He ignores our orders. Even while he lives to please us, he really wants to do so on his own terms. His favorite people in the world are really only favorites when they are engaged in fulfilling his pleasure.

That is a pitch perfect picture of Christianity in western culture, particularly the United States, these days. We are the worship generation. We live to celebrate God and worship him in the most extravagant ways possible. However, when God calls us, when He has a task for us that requires any sort of work or sacrifice, we are very hard of hearing.