Some of you know I enjoy cycling. Cycling is a fun and exciting sport, but it does include the risk of crashing. One day I was cycling with a group of friends at Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey. We were clipping along at about seventeen miles an hour when two dogs suddenly jumped out at us. The lead cyclist braked and turned to avoid the dogs. The next cyclist smashed into the first and they both went down hard. The rest of us tried our best to avoid crashing, but two more went down. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, but it was a scary moment.
The whole thing happened simply because a man who was walking the dogs wasn’t paying attention. He gave his dogs too much leash so when we came by, the dogs were able to jump at us. Just a careless mistake on his part, but it could have been a deadly mistake.
Usually most of us try to pay attention to what we’re doing to prevent and avoid these kinds of accidents, but I wonder how many spiritual accidents happen because someone was being careless.
Like the man with the dogs who didn’t keep them under control, we have passions, desires, and emotions that need to be kept under control. God has given us these desires, but if we let our desires run free, we could easily find ourselves in big trouble. God has also given us emotions, but if we’re not careful, our emotions can get out of control leading to deadly consequences.
Dogs can be great pets, but we need to make sure they don’t get away from us. Our emotions and desires are given by God for our good, but we need to make sure our emotions and desires are under control. The Bible says self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The Bible says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).”
If we walk in the Spirit of God, he will help us to keep control of our emotions and desires so that they don’t get away from us and cause a problem we will later regret. So be careful and don’t let your dogs get loose.,
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