March 22, 2011

CATS AND CHRISTIANITY - PART 2

Read: Genesis 1:24-25

Today we will look at the positive characteristics cats can teach humans:

LOVE: Our pets give us unqualified love - supernatural, unconditional, and sacrificial love - as embodied in our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not care if we are good-looking or homely, thin or heavy, tall or short, rich or poor, black or white, red or yellow. They just love us! No strings attached! No prejudices, no bigotry! They just give us true and unadulterated love. Think what the world would be like if we humans were like that.

LOYALTY: Pets have been known to risk their own lives for the sake of helping or saving their humans. They do not abandon us humans if we're occasionally bad-tempered, non-responsive, or preoccupied. We appreciate, seek, and respond to the loyalty of our pets. Just as God appreciates, seeks, and responds to our loyalty to our fellow human beings and, most especially, to him.

PATIENCE: Time is of no importance to a cat. It will wait with infinite patience for its prey ... or its human to appear. Paul lists patience as one of the fruits of the spirit. It is an important and necessary trait for a Christian, especially here in America where instant results and instant gratification are a way of life. American Christians tend to pray, "Lord, give me patience ... and give it to me now!" But God is not tied to space and time and he is definitely not on the world's time schedule. We need to "wait patiently for God" and not run ahead of Him. It's when we get ahead of God that we get into trouble and make a mess of things.

ADAPTABILITY: Animals are very adaptable to situations and conditions - it's how they survive. Christians must adapt to the conditions of our world and culture without compromising our faith. We basically must adapt to living in a hostile environment where we reside as aliens. We are conditioned by our faith to respond, not to react. As Paul said, "I have learned to be content in whatever situation I am."

So "Ask the animals and they will teach you."

DEAR LORD, we thank you for the animals you created to be our companions and friends. Help us to observe them and learn from them to be the humans you would have us to be. AMEN.

Noelle Landin
(Inspired by "Cats in the Parsonage" by Clair Shaffer, Jr.)