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Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20
Reflect
My stepfather used to tell a story about a certain man who was walking his dog. It was a strange looking dog, with a short, stubby nose, a short, stubby tail, short, stubby legs and practically no hair on its pale, yellow body. As he stood, holding the leash attached to his odd-looking dog in a nearby park, a lady came by walking her prim and proper French poodle. In a flash, a snap was heard and all that was left of the poodle was a puff of white fluff and an empty leash. The woman hadn’t seen exactly what happened and ran off in search of her dog.
A few minutes later, a young man walked by with a little Boston terrier. As the black-and-white pooch passed the odd dog, another snap was heard, and there was just an empty leash and another confused owner running off in search of a missing dog. In a few minutes another dog owner walked by, this time with a Cocker spaniel. The result was the same – snap! Just a bit of black fur remained to accompany the empty leash. As the owner ran off in confusion, a man who had been standing nearby and watching the events unfold approached the owner of the yellow beast and commented that he had never seen a dog quite like this one.
The owner explained, “Well, this isn’t actually a dog at all. It’s a Florida alligator that I found a couple of years ago. I shortened its snout and docked its tail, and I painted it yellow. I wanted a dog, but all I had was an alligator, so I turned him into a dog.” This story was labeled, “Beware of Yellow Alligators.”
There is nothing new in the world. Throughout history, people have tried to paint a happy face on sin, and they’ve said that evil things are good and good things are evil. Today, however, such practices seem more and more commonplace as sinful things are glorified and decent behavior is downplayed and marginalized.
These days, praying in public is bad, but using profanity is acceptable. Sharing your faith is bad, but premarital sex is expected. Clean comedy is seen as boring, but raunchy comedy is desirable. Going to church is seen as a thing of the past, but getting drunk and waking up with a hangover is seen as fun. And I’m sure you can think of many more examples than this.
As Christians, we should never look down on people who don’t live according to the Bible. We should love them and show them grace and mercy. But our best course is to live according to God’s commands and to live a consistent, godly life. The world is an expert at sinful behavior, and most people are pretty good at recognizing when people who call themselves Christians walk around with “yellow alligators.” We need to make sure that our witness is pure and untainted so that people who don’t know the Lord might be drawn to Him by what they see in us.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
