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Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Colossians 3:9-10
Reflect
There’s an old story that I’ve heard variations of for many years. It wasn’t until today that I realized that its origin was an old Native American story about a grandfather and his grandson.
In the story, a wise old grandfather is teaching his grandson about life and he tells him, “A terrible fight is going on inside me. The fight is between two wolves. The first one is evil, and he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.”
The old man paused to let this first part sink in, and he continued. “The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.” He paused again and continued. “The same fight is going on inside of you, grandson, and inside of every other person.”
The grandson thought about what he had just heard and thought for a minute or two, and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee man simply said, “The one you feed.”
I originally heard that story about being between two dogs — and old one and a young one. In this story, the two dogs represent two different natures — the old nature that we had before Christ and the new nature that we received when we accepted Christ as our Savior. But they’re basically the same story told in different ways. And they’re both true. The wolf — or dog — that will win the war within is the one that we feed.
It’s not just the one we feed the most. I’ve heard that, too. But that implies that we can feed the sinful nature a little bit and feed the Christlike nature more and we’ll be OK. In my experience, even a little food for the evil wolf can go a long way. We must starve that wolf into complete submission in order to give the other wolf a chance to dominate.
What’s at stake? Only our faith and our growth as mature Christians. And it doesn’t really seem like a fair fight. We’re surrounded by choice food for the bad wolf. Images in commercials, messages in music lyrics, sex in movies, violence on TV, worse things yet in video games, jaded stories in the news, gossip on social media. The list seems endless. And there are only a few weapons to combat the tidal wave of bad wolf food. On the good side we have the Bible, prayer, praise and worship, fellowship with other Christians.
We also have the off switch for the world’s wolf food supply. We don’t have to engage in things that feed us the messages and images that will lead us astray. We can choose to focus on things that feed the good wolf and the new, Christlike nature. Yes, the other food source is enticing and the images are familiar. But once you’ve tasted of the goodness and richness of Christ, the old food tastes bland and it isn’t fulfilling.
What you’re doing right now is a good start. Reading a devotion like this can be part of a good spiritual meal, and there are others that are probably much more deep and enriching. Just make sure that you plan a steady diet of healthy, spiritual morsels that will build up the good wolf and the new dog living inside. Make sure that when the old wolf comes sniffing around — and he’ll always be there, waiting for an opportunity to regain control — that you have the good wolf strong and on guard.
Reflection copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt..
