Don't Let those Dogs Out!

My dog Lily loves to run! When she tears off at top speed after a ball or a deer, it is beautiful to behold. She runs like a thoroughbred racehorse, body long and extended, and her feet pounding the ground as she runs by sound like small hoof beats.

She also sometimes runs like a creature possessed, with a wide stance, haunches tucked under, and her tail strangely cocked. She is running after nothing, just running because - for some doggie reason I don't understand - she simply must.

When she runs for any reason, she is used up afterward. Her feet drag. She sprawls somewhere to pant and cool for a bit, then curls up on her bed to sleep. One good running session will settle her for the day. And sometimes I take advantage of that fact!

You see, Lily is a very excitable dog. If people come to our house, she gets so overwhelmed with doggie joy that she simply cannot contain herself. The best I can do is shoo her out the door to run it off, encouraging her to take a couple laps around the yard to take the edge off before we try to greet the guests again. Better still, if I know people are coming, I can take her out for a run before they arrive. That way, she is already tired when they arrive, and she more quickly settles, loses interest, and goes to nap in her bed.

I realized a few days ago that I was trying the same strategy with my "inner Pharisee." You know the inner Pharisee - it's that legalistic, judgmental, self-righteous corner of the psyche. It's the part that is always evaluating others by various rules and standards and in such a way that others are always coming up short and itself is always the superior example of doing things right!

The inner Pharisee loves a chance to get out of its kennel and "run" - thinking about all the ways it is superior and others are inferior. It gets excited when it considers an area where it feels especially superior - it can barely contain itself in its desire to think about how wonderful it is!

A circumstance arose where I felt entitled to judge another person by "the rules" - rules I feel rather passionate about! - and I considered the other person to be severely lacking. And I thought to myself that if I indulge my little Pharisee - let her go on and on about all the ways this other person broke the rules - then she'd get tired and shut up for a while. And if she shut up, it would be easier to interact with the person I was judging. I treated that excited little Pharisee like I treat Lily when people come - I let that dog out and encouraged her to run!

I think many of us make this mistake - indulging our self-righteousness (or any bad thought habit) for a while, believing it will "get tired" and subside and be easier to deal with later. And, of course, it feels quite satisfying to watch that dog run - it makes us feel good about ourselves, albeit at the expense of others...

But here's the problem: letting our dogs out to run may quiet and satisfy them for a little while, but over time it just makes them stronger and ever more eager to run. We are, in fact, training and conditioning them to run. Oops! There's the law of unintended consequences in action!

But in Christ there is a better way. St. Paul says to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5) Thoughts and ideas have consequences - shut out unrighteous thoughts, don't indulge them for even a moment. For Jesus himself warns us:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2)

Don't let those dogs out! Don't encourage them to run! To do so is to be led astray.