06.17.14

The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied from above. - Proverbs 14:14 NKJV. 

We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. - Jeremiah 3:25 NKJV. 

Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. - Isaiah 3:10 NKJV. 

Rolf Steiner, while passing by a home on his bicycle, was amazed to see a cow on top of the steep roof of the house. It happened in the Swiss Alps and Rolf says, “I couldn't believe my eyes and had to look three times to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. A cow on the roof.” Apparently the distance to the roof was not as great in the rear of the house and the cow was able to jump onto the roof. The cow created a mess of the roof breaking tiles with its hooves. The cow’s owner says, “She always was one of my most cantankerous beasts, always wanting to do it her way, not mine or the herd's. I tried to chuck a broom at her to get her off, and put a ladder there, but I didn't use it, as I was worried she'd fall on top of me. She would have stayed up there for eternity if she had wanted to. I tried to coax her off when I first saw her, but she wouldn't budge. She had to do things in her own sweet time. And I am left with the bill for replacing the tiles she smashed.” The cow was able to go back the way it had come, and jump back down from the roof. (Orange News 06.16.14) 

From looking at the photo of the cow on the steep roof, I was impressed as to how nimble that cow had to be! It is a wonder that she didn’t fall off, or even fall through the roof, or fall onto someone or something as the farmer feared. As I was reading this story, I began thinking about the backslider, a person who has decided to go their own way, instead of God’s way. The backslider causes damage not only to themselves, but to all those around them. I have thought in the past of how a backslider is somewhat like a “bull in a china shop,” but I’m tired of that comparison. So, now I am going to think of a backslider as being like a “cow on a roof” causing damage and with the potential of causing damage to everything around it. 

We have choices in this life. We can choose God’s way or the highway. “My way or the highway” is another old phrase that even a song or two has been written about. Relient K a Christian rock group has a song with the title “My Way or the Highway,” and here are a few of the lyrics: 

He said, "It's my way or the highway to hell."
It's your decision, choose it well.
He said, "It's my way or the highway to hell."
Decisions we make; life's an election. 

But we've got a guide - a really thick handbook.
No one around to help you decide.
It's time to make up your mind.
It's time to make up your mind. 

You got to choose our side and live, or their side and die.
 

I don’t remember ever hearing the song, but it does have a message. 

Is your life filled with your own ways without any consideration of what God wants for your life? Are you like a “cow on a roof” punching holes in the roof and a danger, a threat to everyone around you? Then, maybe you are a backslider, and it is time for you to make up your mind which side you are on. Are you on God’s side or the Devil’s side? You can make the choice to exclude God from your life. However, to go your own way is simply asking for trouble, and trouble for everyone around you. Instead, choose life! Choose to live and “be satisfied from above (Proverbs 14:14).”