June 15 – More Valuable Than Cats

        Matthew 6:26 – "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, reap, or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are?"

       In my hometown, there is a new business that recently opened in 2017. It is a cat adoption agency, where one can also bring your cat and participate in yoga with one's cat. One can bring lunch and enjoy it along with your cat, your friends, and your friends' cats. The persons associated with this business love cats so much, that they dress themselves with cat paraphernalia, and make up their faces to resemble cats, on a regular and public basis.

        I have also noticed over the past several years a new societal trend in America that elevates the status of animals, particularly dogs and cats, to the level of quasi-human respect, even verging upon worship. There are television commercials, decrying the plight of neglected and starving dogs and cats, pleading for your help in this cultural melee of pet abuse. The commercials portray these animals with such sad eyes, just like the former and still-present commercials for organizations that vie for your donations to relieve human suffering in Africa or India. What is a rich man to do?

        I have a cat that I feed and pet every day. It was a feral cat that showed up one day as a kitten, living in my wood pile. My wife took pity upon it, started feeding it, and it eventually lost its fear of us humans, enough so, that we had it spayed and took it into the house as a pet. Occasionally it escapes the house, runs around outside for a while, visits its previous home, then cries to get back in its safe haven.

        For thousands of years, people have done the same thing, domesticating dogs and cats, adopting them into the human family as a special pet. Why? It is obvious that dogs, and, to a lesser degree, cats have a tendency to assimilate to living indoors with a human family, enjoying human attention, and even showing loyalty in various degrees to those humans. No other animals normally and regularly are brought into this situation. Humans enjoy their pets!

        The word "cat" does not appear in the Bible. The closest related animal that does appear is "lion". However, that animal is not one that is normally domesticated. Generally, only dogs and cats become pets, because we don't eat them in America. In other countries, like Thailand, dogs can be pets, or one's dinner, but not usually as both. There are other tamed animals that we normally leave for the dinner table, such as cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, and, in Thailand, goats. Psalm 8:6-8 states, "You, God, made [man] ruler over the work of your hands; you put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea...." God also states after the flood in Genesis 9:3, "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." No animal is off-limits.

        So, then, animals are not on the same level of purpose as humans, and therefore, not on the same level of respect and honor. This, however, does not give us the right to abuse animals, but to treat them humanely, so as to reap the most benefits of their existence. Jesus stated in Matthew 12:11, within the greater context of the importance of the Sabbath, "If any of you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not pull it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep?" He is implying that the sheep does have value, but that man has much more value, in society, and to God himself. But why would the man care about one sheep? Because it supplied the man with a constant supply of wool, and possibly one day with a meal of mutton. The animal was recognized for its sustenance of human life, given by the Creator for man's good.

        The American Indian tribes have long had this general mindset of respect for life-sustaining animals, albeit sometimes too extreme. The main thinking, however, was that the Creator supplied the animals for the existence of humans, and that relationship should not be abused or otherwise treated wrongfully.

       On the opposite side of the coin, should I venerate an animal when it dies? Does not God know or care about his creatures? On the contrary! Psalm 50:10-11 states, "For every animal of the forest is mine [God's] and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine." Psalm 104:25-29 also states, "...the earth is full of your creatures...these all look to you to give them their food at the proper time...when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things...when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust." Finally, the theme verse of this topic states again, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, reap, or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are?" God sees every squirrel, possum, bird, and domesticated cat that gets hit on the highway in front of your house. He is not phased or alarmed, even knowing that sometimes we love and enjoy these same animals, and are saddened by their deaths.

        Let's keep a proper and balanced perspective on our animals, not holding them too highly in regard, but in their rightful place. God is the one, who gives us all things for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17). He is the one who needs to be elevated in our thinking as the recipient of our praise, gratitude, and adoration, for bestowing upon us the good things we enjoy.

June 5 – Living Sacrifice

        Romans 12:1 – "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in light of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your reasonable act of worship."

        This is a verse that is heard quite often from the lips of preachers – and rightly so. It is obviously a good reminder verse – a reminder for prompting daily behavior and attitude. There is so much packed into this verse; it hearkens back to the Jewish sacrificial system found throughout the entire Old Testament. Now, however, instead of animals, humans become the sacrifice to God, but not through death. Rather, we are told to be an oxymoron, a living death offering to God, that is to be consumed by the flames upon his altar. After all, a sacrifice was to be either fully consumed by the fire, or its meat was to be eaten by the priests, and the rest consumed by the fire. Thus, two things resulted: the physical sustenance of the priests, and a pleasing aroma to God's nostrils. The first was literal; the second was mystical.

        One thought that comes to mind regarding this verse is to avoid sexual immorality. When we are born again, submitting our lives to God, we need to turn away from our sinful lifestyles, and start obeying God's commands. This agrees with instructions in I Corinthians 6:18-20: "Run away from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body." Under the Old Testament, if a person had to travel a long way to Jerusalem in order to sacrifice, he did not have to bring his own sacrifice; he could buy it there. Likewise, God has bought us humans with the blood of Jesus.

        Another thought regarding this verse is that, by a constant offering of our lives, this act of worship is our reasonable service. The Greek word for reasonable is "logikos", from which we get the English word logical. The apostle Paul is stating that our constant offering of ourselves to God is a normal, rational part of living in the Spirit. It is not just done on special occasions; this dying to ourselves is to be done constantly, just like living/breathing is done constantly. There is one problem, however. Dead sacrifices did not move; living sacrifices seem to want to squirm off the altar. We fight against the sinful nature, and do not want to die to our selfish desires. As the verse states, however, our dying to, and offering of, ourselves, is what pleases God. That is the goal for our lives – children living to please their good and faithful Father.

        God, grant us your power by the Spirit, to die to ourselves, and to live every day with a desire to please you, by our actions, words, attitudes, and service to others.