What Does the Fox Really Say?

I don't know if you believe that God speaks to us through nature and the everyday things around us or not, but I certainly do, and I believe that He's been speaking through a....fox of all things lately.  So, the question is, "what does the fox say?" ;)

Yes, I know what you're thinking, and to be honest, I thought the exact same thing when I applied my breaks to avoid hitting a rather large fox standing in the middle of the road last Sunday.  In fact, I nearly reversed the car to go ask it, as, instead of running, the fox stood still at the end of a lane way.  I thought it rather strange to see a fox in town, let alone a fox of that size, but it seems as though the fox has moved into the area and has been spotted more than once, by many people.  This is not your typical sneaky fox, but is rather bold and forward, showing himself on sidewalks and parking lots.  This got me to thinking, what is God saying through this fox?  The first thing that came to me was the scripture "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." (Song of Solomon 2:15, NIV)

Then this morning in the devotional I was reading the scripture was from Romans 6 about how we are now free from the power of sin's dictates.  The particular passage I was reading was this,

"That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives.  Don't give it the time of day.  Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life.  Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time - remember, you've been raised from the dead! - into God's way of doing things.  Sin can't tell you how to live.  After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer.  You're living in the freedom of God." (Romans 6: 12-14, MSG)

 When I read the part about not running little errands connected with that old way of life, I was struck with how many times in a single day I find myself serving Christ as a whole, yet continuing to "run little errands" for that old slave-driving sinful nature.  So many times I find that my whole day can get pulled off track by one little thought that I've dwelt on too long.  These little thought's, (or foxes) are usually lies planted in my mind as small seeds, but by not ripping them up with truth from the Word of God they are given power and grow into something larger that quickly wraps around me like a vine, choking out the life-giving freedom of Christ.

Many times those little lies will list off all of the reasons that I am justified in believing them.  Here's the key to overcoming when this happens,

"I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture.  You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing - not caring about others, not caring about God - the worse your life became and the less freedom you had?  And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?" (Romans 6:19, MSG)

As soon as those lies start listing reasons and justifications, take a moment to remember; remember where those lies took you last time, how they reeled you in like a fish caught on a hook so that you were no longer free to stop believing them on your own accord, but instead were attached and enslaved to their power.  Then remember the freedom you are empowered with in that moment to expose the lie for what it is when you embrace the truth of God's Word.

This is my challenge to myself and to you for the next time those little foxes come knocking at our door.  Let's stop letting those little foxes in before they grow to be the big, bold kind like what I spotted last week.  All of that being said, we now may just have an answer to that question of, "what does the fox say?" :)

Have a fabulous weekend,
Crystal

PS: I know you're going to want to listen to this catchy little number now, (I did myself) so I've saved you the trouble. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE (I apologize in advance for getting it stuck in your head...kind of...haha)