To Retrieve or To Retreat

The following Journaling was originally written on January 27, 2007. For some reason I felt like pulling it out of the archieves, dusting it off, and posting it today.

A couple of evenings ago my stepson Chris, who is an avid outdoorsman, shared a story with me that has given me some great “food for thought.”
Chris shared that a friend of his raises and trains Labrador Retrievers. Of course the name, Retriever, tells what these beautiful animals are bred, born, and trained to do: Retrieve. They make the duck hunter’s life easy. The hunter sits in the blind, shoots the ducks, and the retriever goes out and brings them back to the hunter. On one occasion the friend had a young lab who he had trained in the artificial setting, then decided it was time to take him to the blind for the real thing. He also took an older mature dog with him to show the “young sprite” the ropes of retrieving. After the first shoot, the mature dog was released to “retrieve,” which he did in fine fashion. Then after the next shoot the young dog was released for the retrieve. He also did so in the well-bred, trained manner of the older dog.
Then the hunter noticed that the younger dog was sitting in the blind chewing on one of the ducks. He corrected him a couple of times, and when the pup continued chewing on what was to be the duck hunter’s supper, he popped the dog across the nose with the barrel of his shotgun. That did the trick and the duck was safe for the stewpot!
Some time later another duck flew over, the well-placed shot pattern brought him down, and again the young Lab was released. He swam to the duck, smelled of him, and then swam away. He refused to retrieve! Why would such a well-bred animal that had just a few moments earlier shown such positive response suddenly refuse to do the simple thing that was so natural to him? The hunter knew the answer. The last time that he had a duck in his mouth, he felt the hurt and sting of a gun barrel across his nose! One pop of the barrel and that was all of that kind of pain he wanted. In fact he feared the dog would never hunt again. However, with patience, continued training, and reinforcement he did indeed retrieve again. I’m sure the hunter never used the barrel of the shotgun again on the dog’s nose!
How often have I seen individuals that no longer would do that which had once come so easily for them, which was so naturally innate, and that which spoke to destiny of life? “I don’t attend church anymore…too many hypocrites, someone there hurt me, the pastor or board treated me wrong.” The list goes on. Isn’t it amazing how one, or maybe two or three hurts can drive us from that which our Creator intended? For sure it is normal for us to recoil from inflicted pain, and to not want to expose our selves to it again. It’s much easier to just swim away, as the dog did, rather than chance the pop of the barrel, not against our nose but against our esteem, ego, spirit, and feelings; our very soul! No one chooses pain! It is simpler to just get out of the hunt.
It is all too common in religious circles for the more “mature” Christians and leaders to use the gun barrel tactic against others with whom they disagree. The heart and soul of the person is hurt and wounded. No wonder so many today just finally and in frustration “swim away,” and search for meaning of life elsewhere. “If that is what it’s about, I want nothing to do with it. If that is the way God’s people act, they are hypocrites and I won’t be a part of that.”
It is an all too common fact that without a constant emphasis on our own frailty and humanity, we can become intolerant, judgmental, and harshly critical and corrective in our relationships with others. I remember hearing Pastor Michael Johnson of Springfield, Illinois tell of hearing General Superintendent Wesley Steelberg share his own shortcomings in this area shortly before his death. He related that the only thing in his life that he feared to face God with was the harsh and judgmental way that he had treated other ministers who were either taken in sin or otherwise had made mistakes in their ministries. Many, he said, were no longer in the ministry and were lost to the Kingdom. This loss to the church and the Kingdom haunted him as he was facing his own mortality. He realized he had popped the gun barrel across too many noses!
Perhaps, you as I, have felt the sting of the barrel once too often and have said, “That’s it, no more, never again.” Where do we go from here?
Is the answer in “retreating,” rather than “retrieving”? In searching for my answer I am reminded of three verses that I memorized from the book of Romans as a youth. Since I committed them to memory in the King James, that’s the way I’ll share them: (really messes up the mind of my spell check)
“Therefore thou art inexcusable, o man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”—Romans 2:1
“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand.”---Romans 14: 4
And finally, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." ---Romans 8:1
From these words I learn some spiritual and life lessons. First of all I realize that ultimately no other person has the prerogative to pass judgment on me. Yes, there are lines of accountability, and as I have often remarked no one can truly be in authority, unless they have learned to be under authority. However authority does not automatically assume criticism, judgment, or condemnation. It carries with it the responsibility of understanding and support.
Secondly I see that no man is my master. “To his own master he standeth or falleth…” which is followed by, “God is able to make him stand,” which is more than a suggestion that God is our Master!!! It is to our Master that we answer and by Him we will be judged.
And finally if I am in Christ Jesus, and walk after the Spirit, I am under no condemnation! These realities free me from the bondage of man to the freedom of God!!!
I don’t know what you’ve experienced, my friend, or if it any of this has application to your life. But for me, I know that in the midst of my mistakes and
failures, God is not going to pop my nose with a gun barrel but He, “…is able to make ME stand!”
As for me, I’m back in the hunt, swimming the water, and ready to follow my Master’s command!! COME ON IN, THE WATER’S FINE!!!!
“To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.”---Ephesians 1:6 WE ARE ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!