Puppy Lessons

Read Psalm 105:1-5

Joey watched as Uncle Stan put a bone right in front of Duke. “No, Duke!” Uncle Stan commanded the puppy. “Look at me!” Duke looked straight at his master’s face, then glanced down at the bone he wanted so much. “Duke, no! Look at me!” repeated Uncle Stan. Duke raised his eyes and gazed again at his master.

“Why do you want Duke to look at you?” asked Joey.

“If he looks at me rather than the bone, I know he’ll obey me,” replied Uncle Stan. He patted and praised Duke and gave him doggie treats. “Duke reminds me of how we should act when we’re tempted to do wrong,” Uncle Stan told Joey. “If we keep our eyes on our Master, Jesus Christ, we’ll be far more likely to obey him. But if we look at what is tempting us, it will be easier to give in to temptation.”

“I don’t get what it means to keep our eyes on Jesus,” Joey said. “We can’t really see him.”

Uncle Stan smiled. “Well, let’s see . . . ,” he said. “I’m thinking of that tennis competition you participated in a few weeks ago. You worked so hard to be in shape—you even gave up desserts so that you’d be ready when it was time to play. Why did you do that?”

“I wanted to win the trophy,” said Joey, grinning. “And I did!”

Uncle Stan nodded. “Would you understand what I meant if I said you had your eyes on the trophy?” he asked. Slowly Joey nodded. “You couldn’t really see it, but you kept thinking about it. In much the same way, we keep our eyes on Jesus by thinking about him and what he’d want us to do. For example, if we think about Jesus and how he feels about certain TV shows, we’ll turn them off. But if we forget about Jesus, we may keep watching, even though it doesn’t please him. The same could be said about books or videos or anything we do,” added Uncle Stan. Again Joey nodded. He decided that from now on, he’d “look” at Jesus, his Master.

How about you?

Do you keep “looking” at your Master, Jesus Christ? That’s the thing that will keep you from giving in to temptation. His strength can keep you strong to fight against every temptation you’ll ever meet.

Memorize:

“Search for the Lord and for his strength, and keep on searching.” Psalm 105:4