I was home visiting my parents recently and brought my 11 and a half-year-old yellow lab, Beignet, with me. My parents like to spoil her so Beignet usually gets some kind of new toy when she visits Grammie and Grampie’s house. This trip was no different and Beignet was quite pleased with Grammie’s choice of new toy for her: a giraffe looking stuffed animal that you shove an empty water bottle into. She LOVES the crunch sound that water bottles make and she was off in no time playing and wagging her tail with joyous bliss.
Beignet was like a puppy and full of energy and delight. I got distracted with something and then remember walking from one side of the den to the other when I noticed one of my mom’s rugs was shredded at the corner. (Apparently, as Beignet was playing, a piece of the rug was in her mouth and she kept chewing on this new toy…..causing the rug to unravel pretty significantly in the corner).
My immediate reaction was to yell, “Beignet-Marie, what have you done?!” (I often put the “Marie” in there when I’m trying to discipline, like any parent feeling the need to include a middle name when a child is in trouble!) Well, as I did that my mom came scurrying out from her bedroom saying, “What happened? What did she do?” As my mom’s eyes caught sight of the rug, she also began to dish out her own discipline.
At this point, I was already on the hunt for Beignet in the house. I found her in my bedroom at my parent’s house, hunched down on all 4 legs, head down, guarding her new toy, and occasionally staring at me with her big brown eyes as if to say, “I know I was wrong, please mommy, don’t be mad at me.”
My heart melted. There was no way I could continue to be angry with her after how I found Beignet. I could still hear my mom’s voice elevated and I turned to walk out of my room, stopping my mom from her discipline, and telling her, “She knows she was wrong, she doesn’t need us to continue to be angry with her.”
As my mom walked into my room, her heart melted as well and we both got down on our knees and gently told Beignet it was okay. I scratched her ears and her tail began to wag. Restoration at its finest!
In that moment, I told my mom, “If it would only be this easy with PEOPLE!”
We have such a hard time owning when we are wrong, or when we mess up. We don’t like to own our sin. And even when we can start to apologize, we feel the need to give an explanation, to justify in a sense.
One of my favorite studies, “Gospel Centered Life” has a great section on “Repentance”. The study reminds us:
The study also challenges you to be sure your repentance is “true repentance”:
• Is it oriented toward God and not me? Psalm 51:4, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…..”
• Is it motivated by true Godly sorrow and not just selfish regret? 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly sorrow produces death.”
• Is it concerned with the heart and not just with external actions? Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
• Does it look to Jesus for deliverance from the penalty and power of sin? Acts 3:19-20, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ who has been appointed for you—-even Jesus.”
Please note—-I don’t really believe my yellow lab, Beignet, knows how to repent, but I’m thankful that she often stirs my affections for Jesus and helps me to see my own ridiculous ways I try to earn righteousness.
You can click this link for more info on the Gospel Centered Life study that I mentioned: http://www.whm.org/gcl
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