Weblog Entry - 02/19/2003: "Volume 15 - Lessons From The Dog House By Stephanie Bennett"

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02/19/2003 Entry: "Volume 15 - Lessons From The Dog House By Stephanie Bennett"

Growing up, there was a funny, little expression that my mother would sometimes use around the house. If Dad did something that displeased her, she'd quip, "Your father's in the dog house today!" It was sort of a wry, tongue-in-cheek statement-- said half in jest, half in truth, but we all knew what it meant. Somehow, Dad "blew it."

Have you ever been "in the dog house?" In fact, do you ever feel like you're in there so much that you ought to change the address on your driver's license? Well, welcome to life on this planet! It is impossible to be alive without making a mistake at least once in a while.

Perhaps you've hurt someone, fallen short in some way, or even feel that you've let God down. If that's so, you're not alone. The experience of "falling short," no matter how minimal or broad, is common to man, and, if it never happened, you would be one of the great "cloud of witnesses" already looking down from the heavens! Perfection is a state that no one reaches in this life no matter how much we are aware of our union with the Lord.

Unfortunately, the feelings that follow our personal failures can be some of the most damaging and disabling issues of our lives. When they go unchecked, we easily find ourselves "wallowing" in a sea of failure and sin thereby relinquishing our birthright to inexpressible joy and life!

Learning to experience our glorious union with the Lord, and allowing His life to be lived out through our own, is a process that usually takes a lifetime. Its practice is something I like to call "vesselhood." Though vesselhood is not a word we can locate in Webster's dictionary, use of it is legitimate, for it fits the experience of living life in union with the Spirit of God quite nicely.

Why do I bring up vesselhood when discussing our human failure? It is because failure is one of the most valuable things God uses to teach us about our life in Him. additionally, learning that we are His vessels, and learning to actually allow His life to be lived out through our own is the first step in over-coming the mentality that keeps our minds stuck in "the dog house."

A good place to begin is with the fact that as new creations in Christ you and I CANNOT live to our old, human nature because that nature is….well, it is dead. We are alive, yes, but our 'alive-ness' is "in Christ." It's TRUE! That is our residence! Our true home is 'in Christ!'

Once we have repented and invited Jesus Christ to be LORD of our lives, we are new creatures! We are a totally new species, a totally new creation! "In Christ Jesus" we are holy and pure. How can that be? Well, simply because He is holy and pure, and He lives in us, and we are in Him. It's a glorious relationship that is entirely complete and within our spirits (ie. our inmost being). That oneness is untarnished, incorruptible and totally impeccable. There, in union with Christ, we are unable to be marred by any sin or failure. However, the senses of our outer man (the soul's territory) can still be stirred up, and between now and eternity we still have to deal with some formidible foes as well as our own worn and weary "clay feet."

One of the typical ways we deal with this dilemma is to fight, fuss, and/or fast so that we can get rid of the temptations and avoid the failure altogether. However, this only brings more failure, ultimately. But God doesn't leave us to our failed self-effort! Thankfully, one of the greatest joys of this life is knowing that God alone is the perfector of our faith, as well as the author. More often than not, we need to DIE to our self effort!!! It is the Lord that leads us on in our journey, freeing us daily from the leftover crumbs of pre-occupation with self, of which Pride is a heavily concentrated by-product. As pitiful as the "dog house syndrome" can be, the good news about dealing with failure is that God can, and does use it to free us from Prides' pre-occupation with self. God uses failure to pry the barnacled grime of pride's unwelcome intrusion off of our hearts, and keeps that ego-centered monster from having the power to draw our attention away from Him. It is through God's dealings this way that we ultimately come to experience our true Life (ie. HIM) more and more each day.

So, just how can anything good come out of "blowing it" once in a while? Well, think about it, how often have you prayed to be free of your prideful, soulish ways? Is "Lord, I lay down my pride; I lay down my rights, I submit to whatever you desire," a common prayer that you lift to the Lord, only to find Pride rearing its ugly head for the umpteenth time in a single day? Surely if wishing (or saying) could make it so, don't you think we all would be free of Pride's nasty little claws after just a few short years of diligence in fighting it off? Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. However, God loves us too much to let us stay stuck in the mud of our own failed self-efforts, and very often uses failure is one of His tools to free us. Through it, He chips away at the false self, all the encrusted layers of the dusty, dirty pride of life, breathing His life through us until praise and criticism become the same, giving and receiving become the same, lack and plenty become the same, and Christ becomes our all.

Surely embracing failure as something from God is one of the most difficult lessons we are called to learn, because generally, we so cling to the false self, along with all of its skewed sense of security, that freedom must be experienced in stages. Embracing our frailty and failure is difficult, and it is easier said than done, simply because pride is so incredibly insidious. It is a valiant enemy, whispering half-truths into our ears, determined to keep the false self alive, or at least keep us thinking that the false-self is capable of being ressurrected. In light of this, there are some practical things to do to put it under your foot.

First, when you fail (make a mistake, sin, fall short, or essentially, find yourself in the dog house), don't cover it up. Just like you wouldn't throw a tablecloth over a dusty table before cleaning it, or pull down the window shade in broad daylight just to avoid seeing the dull window, so you must "face the music," and let God deal with it. Be brave; look at pride right in the face, and call it what it is. You blew it. You need God.

Second, use the momentum of the failure. Like the force of a wave that's building up and getting ready to break upon the shore, so failure builds, looming larger and larger until it crashes upon our lives. If this sounds scary, it is. However, what happens when a wave crashes upon the beach? All the dead wood, broken shells, seaweed, and miscellaneous garbage that doesn't belong in the ocean gets swept up by the force of the water and is expelled upon the beach when the wave breaks. The unnecessary debris in our lives, namely pride, must be expelled in order to be dealt with completely. We must let the water of life wash over us to experience the fullness of Christ, in us.

So, let the situation have its full effect. As the failure culminates and swells (just like a wave),then breaks out all over your life and/or the lives of others around you, the momentum will scoop up pride in its powerful tide and throw it up upon the shore. A natural cleansing takes place. In this way failure can be used as a purifying measure, so that on the Pure Water of Life will pour out from your Wellspring.

Another picture may help. Imagine yourself likened to a fine crystal vase which contains the most pure and delicious Water of Life. In the water a whole bouquet of fragrant and colorful flowers (fruits of the God's Spirit) adorn the vase. Now you have a picture of why it is so important to be free from Pride's stranglehold. When you view the vase (yourself), or others look upon you, don't you want the most clear, crisp, distinct view of the contents to be seen? Certainly. You don't want anything to hinder the fragrance or take away from the beauty of the contents. If the vase (your outer man) is cloudy and dusty, it will inhibit the view of the precious content. Allowing His Presence to wash over us daily removes the nasty build-up as it occurs, so that pride's effects do not take away from the clarity and gleam of the vase. Thus, His Spirit shines brightly through us. His radiance is reflected through us!

Finally, don't let failure be your demise. Pride is common to man. To make too big a deal about it just gives unnecessary attention to your false self. Who you are, is who you are -- in Christ. He's the biggest part of you. He is most certainly your only hope of glory! Failure is a strong antidote for pride; we can either embrace it and learn, or fight it and wallow. It is in this way that God uses "the doghouse," as our own personalized classroom.

In fact, the longer you and I go on in Him we see that our Lord has an interesting set of tools in His back pocket set aside precisely to work this kind of 'demolition' work in us. Truly failure is one of the most powerful tools. God wields it like a hammer or a chisel against the hardened, statue- like crust of our false self, ultimately freeing us from the bondage of pride's ugly affectations. Thankfully, (but often, painfully) the Lord is not afraid to use this power tool to blow pride to smithereens, sand-blasting that pesky little spirit right off of us.

There is a treasure in you dear one, it is Christ Jesus our King,. . .let Him be seen in His fullness and beauty and expressed with crystal clarity each day as you live out your life. Part of His cleansing of your vessel is the use of failure. Constant awareness of the Treasure, instead of focus on the "earthen vessel," will help you not only get out of the doghouse, but keep from finding yourself there very often in the first place. So when you've really 'messed up" you don't have to let the failure take you out-- instead, let it become an opportunity to take the wind out of Pride's colorful, self-aggrandizing sail.