[caution: this post may offend folks from peta or many contemporary evangelicals, and for different reasons]
Recently I was sitting on my patio enjoying the cool summer morning as I studied and drank some quality tea. Suddenly I heard a bit of a screech and then my 90 lb boxer moved in quickly. She chased and cornered a mouse and then began to ‘punch’ it with her square snout. This she did until the poor little trespassing mouse began twitching and ultimately died.
As Brandy, my valiant protector and attack dog, stood over the pummeled mouse I said to myself, “Mortification.” This is what it looks like.
Mortification is another way of referring to the process of putting to death the remaining sin in the Christian’s life (cf. Rom. 8.12-13, Col. 3.5ff). As believers we have remaining sin in our lives and it needs to be dealt with quickly and precisely.
My dog becomes a good example of this. She did not play with the mouse, chase it around, pet it, lap it, or otherwise accommodate it….she snuffed it out and killed it. Likewise, believers are not to play with sin or cuddle it, joke about it, hide it, tolerate it, or minimize it…we are to find it and stomp it out.
Now I don’t want to over spiritualize my dog’s performance, but if you were here you would have noticed that she stood over the mouse to ensure she had taken care of business. As believers it is right to make sure that we are putting the sin to death. It is not OK to just close our eyes, take a swing and hope we hit something. We must sit quietly under the hammer of the word and deal with our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. The word and the Spirit scrub our hearts and serve as the means for putting to death the sin that remains.
I was challenged in watching my boxer get after it to be one who precisely, quickly and completely deals with sin. I want to treat sin like an invader. Sin must be noticed, apprehended and dealt with appropriately. This is just another reason why pastors need to have a tough dog.