BBD 04.26.06 Sucking Eggs
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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04.26.06
Sucking Eggs
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to
life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and
virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious
promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. - 2 Peter
1:2-4.
A problem that occasionally occurred on the farm was a dog that discovered
he had a taste for eggs. How do you ever break a dog of sucking eggs? An
egg-sucking dog is a very serious problem if you are selling eggs or
depending upon eggs for your livelihood or for food. I think I remember my
Mother and Dad talking about it very negatively i.e. as in, once a dog
starts sucking eggs you can never break him of it. However, as I've
researched this today I have discovered it is sometimes possible to stop a
dog from sucking eggs but it may take ingenious and even drastic measures to
do so. According to my parents, the only cure was to get rid of the dog.
Pretty drastic! An ingenious method I read about today was to put pepper in
an egg and leave it where the dog can find it easily. Supposedly, having
experienced the severe burning taste the dog will then leave eggs alone in
the future. Another drastic measure some have recommended is to hang a dead
chicken around the neck of the dog leading the dog to develop an aversion to
all things related to chickens including eggs.
Some would tell us that if you have an addiction that it is impossible to
break you of sucking eggs. I would suggest that there are better solutions
than just putting you out of your misery. However, to break you from your
addiction i.e. sucking eggs - it may be necessary to use ingenious and even
drastic measures. Because if you have tried over and over to break your
addiction without success it is time to try some other way. This is not to
suggest that there is a surefire cure that will work every time for every
person since every person is unique. So, if you have been hitting your head
against the wall to get rid of your headache and it just makes it
worse.stop!!
Jesus did suggest some radical measures for the elimination of addictions.
He said in Matthew 5:29-30, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it
out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your
members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your
right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is
more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole
body to be cast into hell." Now you have to agree that is pretty radical and
very drastic. However, I do not believe that Jesus meant it in a literal
sense because there are no records of any church in history have an eye
plucking or hand cutting off service. I do believe that Jesus was making it
very clear how serious sin and therefore addictions are in the eyes of God.
In other words if you are sucking eggs you have a problem that must be dealt
with - you cannot just ignore it and hope it will go away. Why? Because it
will not go away without ingenious or even drastic measures being taken.
You should be aware that God does have the power and resources necessary to
break you of your addiction. The apostle Peter makes this clear when he
says, ".His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness.." There is a sufficiency in Christ meaning that God has given us
through Christ all that is needed to live lives that will be pleasing to
God.
Here are a couple of suggestions for how you can break an addiction.
1. Fasting and prayer - Remember if nothing has broken you of your addiction
to this point that you must approach this in the most serious way that you
are capable of doing.
Ronnie Floyd the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas
says that fasting is the gateway to supernatural power. Charles Stanley
writes in one of his books of a man with a sexual addiction who followed
Stanley's recommendation of fasting for three days and of his being freed
from that addiction.
It may take more than three days to break your addiction. It may take more
than one fast to break your addiction. It is a powerful supernatural tool,
which will result in God moving to help you with whatever your problem may
be.
2. Immersion in the resources of God - As much as possible cut yourself off
from the world for a period of time and immerse yourself in the reading,
memorizing, and meditating upon the Word of God. Spend much time in prayer
and spend time with sincere mature Christians. Spend extended times just
praising God. Immersion in the resources of God will change your life.
Only God has the power to break you from sucking eggs. He can do it, but
only if you want his help and are serious enough to risk the life that you
are now living being changed into the life He wants for you.
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