Are You a Pest or a Pet?

Princess the cat lives in our "finished" basement. She likes it there because she feels safely hidden from our four dogs (Lucy, Desi, Stella and Hazel) who roam the upper floors of our house.
She is a beautiful cat and I love her dearly. But Princess is a pest!

Whenever I go downstairs to work on the computer, Princess plops herself down on the keyboard...or stands in front of the monitor...or insists on climbing up on my chest which makes it impossible for me to work at all.

If I try to study for a sermon, Princess insists on laying smack-dab in the middle of my book...or on the paper I am writing on...or she bats my pen off the desk and onto the floor.

I move. She moves. I move her. She moves back.

She rolls over so I can pet her belly...and I lose my train of thought. She takes a flying leap onto the little roll-out shelf that holds my mouse, and the whole thing tumbles to the floor. She attacks the phone cord. She scatters a stack of magazines all over the place.

There is no way to ignore Princess. She makes sure you know she is there.

Smokey, our other cat, lives upstairs in our master bedroom. She likes it there because the bedroom is her own, private sanctuary from the dogs.

Smokey is a cat's cat. She is aloof. She keeps her distance. If she gets within "touching" distance, it is on her own terms.

I can go into the bedroom, spend a lot of time there, and leave, all without a single Smokey-sighting. She finds nooks and crannies in our closet where she can be invisible. It is almost as if she isn't even there.

I wonder if God sees me as a Princess or as a Smokey?

In His eyes, am I the one rolling over for His attention? Or, am I aloof, hardly there?

Am I pestering Him all the time with my prayers? Or, am I hiding in the closet?

Do I scatter His Word all over the place by the way I live my life? Or, do I only want Him to pay attention to me on my own terms?

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus told a parable about a widow who was a lot like Princess...

He said, "There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him, 'My rights are being violated. Protect me!' He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, 'I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won't quit badgering me, I'd better do something and see that she gets justice – otherwise I'm going to end up beaten black and blue by her pounding.'

Then the Master said, 'Do you hear what the judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won't step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won't He stick up for them? I assure you, He will. He will not drag His feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he returns?'"

Luke, explained the meaning of the parable as follows: "Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart..."

God wants you to be more like Princess and less like Smokey. When you do, He doesn't see you as a pest who won't leave Him alone. Rather, He sees you as His child who loves His attention.

He likes that. Roll over sometime and see for yourself. I promise He will pet your belly!

Pastor Greg