Disobedience
Disobedience
Sigh* Toby, my crossbred mongrel, has become more and more disobedient. Well, in general he's still a well-behaved dog, gentle and tame. His disobedience is in his act of walking out of the main gate when the gate is opened (without permission) - and it has happened about 3 times, at least, lately.
When Toby first came to join the household (about 3 years ago), he did not know that this act was not permitted, so once when the main gate was opened, he actually dashed out upon seeing another dog from my neighbor's house that was roaming around along the road. My goodness - the two dogs were "standing" in the middle of the road and "quarreling" with each other, thankfully not getting into a fight as yet. I immediately raised my voice and scolded him really fiercely, getting him to go back. My main concern for him at that time was his safety - firstly, couldn't have imagine what would happened if there were cars that were coming his way; and secondly couldn't have imagine what would have happened if the two dogs really began fighting.
After that fierce scolding, Toby behaved really well. Each time when I open the main gate, he would move into the garden area until the gate is closed will he then move out. I really am not sure what has gotten into him that he's becoming more and more disobedient. Toby was given by Ivan, L's brother because the family doesn't have time to look after him when the little kiddies came along. And Ivan had actually spent a great deal of time and effort grooming him, sending him for Obedient classes. In fact, Ivan's pride was that Toby came in first amongst all his "classmates". So you see, Toby really shouldn't be so misbehave, and disobedient!! I guess I can perhaps "blame" myself for not regularly "revising" with Toby what he has learnt??
Looking at this incident, it just caused me to ponder how easily it is for us, human, to also become easily disobedient as well - especially when we began to rely and depend a lot on our past knowledge, "reserve" food that we stored up, etc - instead of always coming to the springs of living water to reflect on our actions, and be refreshed and restored to meet challenges head-on.
Just like Toby, he may have topped his class; and we may have been well groomed and brought up in Sunday School, in memory verses, etc - but if we fail to revise regularly what we have been taught and listen to the voice of our Owner, our Master and Lord, we can easily stray into the boundary of disobedience as well. Obedience is an evident of love.
2 John 1:6 "And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love."
Sigh* Toby, my crossbred mongrel, has become more and more disobedient. Well, in general he's still a well-behaved dog, gentle and tame. His disobedience is in his act of walking out of the main gate when the gate is opened (without permission) - and it has happened about 3 times, at least, lately.
When Toby first came to join the household (about 3 years ago), he did not know that this act was not permitted, so once when the main gate was opened, he actually dashed out upon seeing another dog from my neighbor's house that was roaming around along the road. My goodness - the two dogs were "standing" in the middle of the road and "quarreling" with each other, thankfully not getting into a fight as yet. I immediately raised my voice and scolded him really fiercely, getting him to go back. My main concern for him at that time was his safety - firstly, couldn't have imagine what would happened if there were cars that were coming his way; and secondly couldn't have imagine what would have happened if the two dogs really began fighting.
After that fierce scolding, Toby behaved really well. Each time when I open the main gate, he would move into the garden area until the gate is closed will he then move out. I really am not sure what has gotten into him that he's becoming more and more disobedient. Toby was given by Ivan, L's brother because the family doesn't have time to look after him when the little kiddies came along. And Ivan had actually spent a great deal of time and effort grooming him, sending him for Obedient classes. In fact, Ivan's pride was that Toby came in first amongst all his "classmates". So you see, Toby really shouldn't be so misbehave, and disobedient!! I guess I can perhaps "blame" myself for not regularly "revising" with Toby what he has learnt??
Looking at this incident, it just caused me to ponder how easily it is for us, human, to also become easily disobedient as well - especially when we began to rely and depend a lot on our past knowledge, "reserve" food that we stored up, etc - instead of always coming to the springs of living water to reflect on our actions, and be refreshed and restored to meet challenges head-on.
Just like Toby, he may have topped his class; and we may have been well groomed and brought up in Sunday School, in memory verses, etc - but if we fail to revise regularly what we have been taught and listen to the voice of our Owner, our Master and Lord, we can easily stray into the boundary of disobedience as well. Obedience is an evident of love.
2 John 1:6 "And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love."
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