You CAN teach an old dog new tricks

*Photo from Snopes.com

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil." ~Jeremiah 13:23

The dogs in this picture are being trained for police work. They are being trained to go against their natural instinct to gobble up this fuzzy Scooby Snack. Do you ever feel like that in the Christian life? Like you have been so ruined by doing bad things and experiencing bad things and being exposed to bad things that the only thing you know how to do is bad things? And going to church and listening to a sermon feels like someone is trying to "teach an old dog new tricks?" Well, listen up because this verse is hope for you!

Read it again. Sounds confusing, doesn't it? Talk it through. The Ethiopian cannot change the color of one's skin. God made him that way. The leopard cannot change its spots. God made it that way. Then you can do good, even though you have learned to do evil. God made you that way!! Praise the Lord!

In the adage, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," the old dog is apparently set in his ways. These "old dogs" say things like, "It's just the way I am. I can't help it." For many, it's a cop-out. For many others, it really seems this way -- helpless. If you are in the first group, think twice about how far that attitude has gotten you. If you are in the second group, consider the photo. Humans hold a higher status than animals, especially dogs. Then why would it be that these intelligent but impulsive animals can be trained not to attack this very vulnerable cat, but you can't learn to change your ways of thinking or behaving?

Jeremiah tells you that you can change! The alcoholic can do a u-turn without a DWI. The angry mother can find calm. The porn addict can walk away from the electronics and into a thriving marriage. The codependent can confess the error of her ways and be loved all the more for her identity in Christ. Are you like me? Someone kindly pointed out to me one time the error of my thinking that I thought I could change but I didn't think my accusers could. Ok, so you believe God can teach an old dog new tricks and that you weren't just born the way you are. How does this change how you see others? Were they just born nasty and corrupt, or did they learn it and participate in it like you did until it became part of who they were as a person? According to God's words in Jeremiah, there is still hope for these people.

I truly believe that. There truly is hope for everyone to change for good, but good can only come from God. That is the way we are made. We were made for God's purpose and are capable of that single purpose just like leopard cannot change its spots. It is our CHOICE to do evil like it is our CHOICE to follow good.

Yes, you can even train a dog not to chase after a flirtatious cat.

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."


Ok, not that long ago, I was wrestling with typical life stuff that always seems so unique to my own experience and God reminded of this verse. But it rubbed me the wrong way and even moreso the more I thought about it. I know God wanted me to claim the truth of this and find comfort in it, but I couldn't. My anxiety level increased the more I thought about it.

You see, here's the problem. I have the hardest job in the entire world, as do all of you. I have 3 beautiful, bouncing, balls of energy all day every day. They are 2 (and a half), (recently turned)5, and (almost) 7. I have the incredible obligation to educate this energy (no matter how non-traditional the style or method) all the while I'm feeding, transporting, and nurturing their spirits in between my own personal and spiritual growth and pursuits. I also have half a dozen other irons prodded deep in the fires of trials as well. And honestly, if you've read my book, you also might imagine what trials might also be involved with the daily task of undoing the past and keeping it removed from my present parenting.

Play your little mousy violin, but my problem with Philippians 4:13 was that I don't WANT to do ALL things! I merely want to do SOME things. And in fact, I just want to do THIS, whatever "this" is at a given moment of my day. The day I grappled with this verse, I couldn't take another minute of the weight of my burden. I felt crushed by it and overcome, which is why God picked this verse to speak to me. When I poured out my heart to Him, I said, "Lord, this verse is a burden more than a blessing. I don't want to do all things. I just need to know I can do this one thing that is more than I can handle. You said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Does that mean even this?"

The peace was restored before His reply, "Even this, Lisa."

"Oh, okay. I get it now Lord. I can do EVEN THIS through Christ who strengthens me!"

So how about you, Reader? What is the one thing you are sure God excluded from the "all" part of Philippians 4:13? What area or task or trial do you think He wasn't talking about? Of course, God was speaking in the realm of reality. In other words, He wasn't saying I can go out tomorrow and run a marathon or leap from amazing heights and not plumet to my death, or any other feat that defies the laws of nature. We're talking here about the healing process or the daily grind. The part of you that screams, "I just can't forgive him one more time!!!" The part of your process that says, "This is too hard!" or, "The darkness is too dark. I just can't see into it," or, "I can't let go or else I'll forget."

Look that "impossible" thing in the eye and say, "I can do EVEN THIS through Christ who strengthens me!" God has never told a lie.

Be angry and sin not.

God tells us in Ephesians 4:26-27 to "Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity." Do you suppose the plight of marriages in America could have anything to do with the fact that Christians don't apply Scripture even when it really, REALLY hurts? The devil gets an opportunity in our relationships (friendship, social, business, marital, etc.) often times because we sin when we are angry.

Seeing that anger is a God-given emotion, I've been working on formulating a working definition of anger for many years. It has been an evolving definition and today I finally put it down in words, in the back of my Bible in fact. I won't give a long essay here, but will close with something for you to think about.

Destructive Anger = An out-of-control attempt/expression to regain control of an out-of-control situation.

Righteous Anger = A godly, emotional response to sin and its cohorts.

Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it...

It crept up on me, the memory that was always there… in parts. Something happened that night, something horrific and nightmarish, and I was about to find out. I sifted through the memories and the gaps, all that replayed in my waking and in my sleeping thoughts. Piece by piece it came back to me some 30 years later.

It involved some family members and their “friends.” One of those people gave me a gift of a 1/20 oz. gold coin a couple years later. Later in life, I realized it was quite likely stolen and quite likely a token of payment to keep me quiet or apologize. Either way, it was as hideous and despicable as the crime. Still, I hung onto it, never sure what to do with it and biding time in hopes that it would be worth something to me someday.

As the memory was coming to completion and I was processing it all in therapy, my church was campaigning for funds to expand their territory. They showed a photo timeline of how our church started 60 years ago as a small country church. Through years of outpouring of generosity, it came to be the megaplex that it is today and the place my heart calls home. I am forever grateful that because people sacrificed in some pretty amazing ways over the past 60 years, souls are being saved today and my kids can grow up knowing Jesus by the teaching provided in their classes and programs. We drive an hour to church each way and it is totally worth it! In reflecting on the giving of others to make my church home possible, I wanted to give something that would make my church a place to call home for another family 60 years from now.

I was so sad because my husband was losing his job and I’m a stay at home mom with no income and nothing to give financially. That’s when I got creative. I decided that my book sales and any photography sales for the last 3 months of 2011 would be given in whole to FBCA (my church).

Then I remembered the gold coin and what a terrible thing and terrible people it symbolized. I thought if I could use it to buy a new camera, I could take better pictures and sell the photos to make money for Jesus. So I lifted this idea to God in prayer. The conversation went something like this:

“How long will the camera last you, Lisa?”
“Five to ten years. But I can sell the pictures longer.”
“If you’re lucky. How much money do you have in your pocket to give?”
“None.”
“And how much is the gold coin worth?”
“I really have no idea if it’s even real.”
“Whether it is real or it isn’t, your story needs to be redeemed, Lisa! Redeem the coin. Give it to me and I can make it worth more than gold itself. I gave you back your memory about that fateful night to heal you and redeem that part of your life. Now redeem the worthless coin so I can make something good come out of it.”

So I did. I received a statement in the mail today on the church’s letterhead that said they sold the tiny coin for $78 on February 9, 2012. I will tuck this letter away in a private place and hold onto it in remembrance of the lifelong weight I carried with this coin and as a reminder of how God can redeem absolutely anything … and anyone!