Monday, June 4, 2018

That's Not My Dog


By Andrea Merrell

Yanking a dog's ears is as foolish 
as interfering in someone else's argument.
Proverbs 26:17 NLT

There’s nothing worse than a ferocious dog facing off with you, backing you in a corner with teeth bared and a low growl in his throat. Maybe his bark is worse than his bite. Maybe not. How can we be sure?  If we don’t approach the situation with wisdom and caution, we just might get chewed to shreds.

In like manner, how many times have we stuck our nose into someone’s business where it didn’t belong, or tried to handle or control a situation that had absolutely nothing to do with us? Minding our own business is especially hard if we are fixers who want to correct every wrong, change things that are not up to our standards, and tell everyone else what to do.

Don’t misunderstand. There’s a time to get involved, but there's also a time to step back, stay on the sidelines, and just pray. How do we determine the difference? 

Generally, when people want our help or advice, they’ll ask for it. Until that time, it’s almost always better to keep our solutions and opinions to ourselves. Unsolicited counsel and advice is typically not appreciated or accepted and can even come back to bite us. In other words, it can be just as dangerous to meddle, interfere, and jump in the middle of someone’s business as it would be to grab a strange dog by the ears and yank. Not a wise move, and the consequences can be severe.

Ultimately, there’s a fine line between helping and hindering. The best way to get direction and know how to proceed is to pray and ask the Lord what to do. If He gives the green light, then go for it. Just make sure you walk in love and think before you speak. On the other hand, if you get a definite check in your spirit and there is no peace about getting involved, simply give that situation to God, walk away, and say to yourself, that’s not my dog.

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and klakung1.)


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