“Instinctual Behaviors”

 BIBLE READING: Romans 7

There are an estimated 5,000 people in the United States that have tigers as pets.  There’s only one thing I can think of to tell these pet owners:  You people are crazy!!!  There seems to be more and more people every day that are beginning to have exotic pets as animals.  I’m not sure why this is a thing because I want to make sure that if I have a pet, it’s one that I know I can handle if he or she gets out of hand.  Bornfreeusa.org is a website that compiles animal attacks into a list by date.  Some are funny.  Some are not.  In fact, as I write this, the most recent entry is that someone called in reporting to animal control because a kangaroo was hopping down the street.  They thought it was a joke until other people in the neighborhood were calling in reporting “sightings of a tan, male kangaroo in their backyards and even on their front porches.”  That seems like a fun and cute story, but there are also instances of tragedy.  The day before the kangaroo incident, there was a report of a non-profit worker trying to protect a Bengal tiger from heavy rain and lightning.  The tiger attacked and the worker, fortunately, only suffered two broken bones and multiple wounds.  The worker said, “It only takes a fraction of a second for a captive wild animal to revert to their instinctual behavior.”

               How true that is!  Not just for animals, but for Christians as well.  I appreciate Paul writing about this in Romans 7: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  For what I am doing, I do not understand.  For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”  Have you ever had to get onto a child for breaking a family rule?  The parent probably asks, “Why did you do that?”  The child (a lot of times) will answer, “I don’t know.”  A lot of times we may feel that way as Christians; God may look at us, hands on hips, asking, “Why did you do that (sin)?”  And we ashamedly look and say, “I don’t know.”  Paul says it’s because of the flesh that we live in.  We can’t push blame entirely on that.  It is still our responsibility, but rephrase what the animal worker said, “It only takes a fraction of a second for a Christian to revert to their instinctual behavior.”  But, in the context of the book of Romans, and Paul’s discussion of God’s grace, isn’t it a wonderful thing to know that if we revert, God’s grace is there to cover us?!   “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)