From the archives of Oral Roberts
The story is told of an old Indian in the Southwest who gave his life to Christ. A few weeks later a man asked him, “How are you getting along in your Christian life?”
“Fine,” said the Indian, “but I seem to have two dogs in me. One is a good dog and one is a bad dog. When the good dog is in charge, I’m happy. But, when the bad dog is in charge, I’m not so happy.”
“Well,” the man asked, “which dog is in charge?”
The Indian replied, “The one I say ‘Sic ‘em’ to.’”
The Bible speaks of two natures being with each of us ― the “old man” and the “new man.” The old man is our bad-dog nature; destructive attitudes we feel coming upon us from time to time. When the old man is ruling, we want to strike out in anger and frustration at other people and sometimes even at God. The new man is our good-dog nature that compels us to give and to love and to reach out to people and to God.
In Colossians 3:9–10, the Apostle Paul calls us to “…put off the old man … and … put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” In other words, it’s up to us to decide which nature will be in operation in our lives. We have the power to dictate who will be in charge on any given day, by saying with our will, “old man, you rule” or, “new man, you rule.”
