As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. – Proverbs 11:26
What a disgusting thing it is for a dog to return to his vomit. How equally disgusting, and more so, for a man to return to the sin that he has forsaken.
If we could see how truly vile the sin that we commit is, we would never return to it. Does a dog know how disgusting his vomit is? God hasn’t given him enough sense to know that if he vomited it up in the first place it must have been for a good reason. Besides being a pile of half digested, slimy, smelling puke, it also could contain some foreign thing that is destructive to the body.
I’ve seen my own dog vomit and consume his vomit consecutively for 3 rounds. He hasn’t the sense enough to know consuming the same thing over and over again is not changing his delimma! O, that christians would have more sense then a dog! Those things that a christian have violently thrust away from themselves for our glorious Lord, why do they return to it to think that it will now bring them some kind of satisfaction? It will not.
The apostle Peter sheds some more light on this, in 2 Peter 2, when he heralds the dangers that false teachers will bring. Those false teachers will seek to allure the saints back into the lustful lifestyle that they have escaped from, and Peter warns of the ramifications that would result for those who fall prey.
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of The Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ, they are again entagled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” – 2 Peter 2:20-22
This is a frightening verse. Those of us who are among the redeemed should heed these words carefully because to return to the life that we had in days gone by will not be the same. These verses tell us that things will be worse, in this life and the next.
‘Why?’ you may ask. Because ‘to whom much is given, much is required.’ God’s judgment is harsher to those who have special revelation of His truths. Special revelation is an extra grace that God has chosen to give to us out of His heart of love. All the world had and has the general revelation of nature to speak to them the truths of God (Romans 1:18-20). Most do not listen, so God, in His mercy, has decided to give man another chance. He has sent His Son with the special revelation of His word. Those who have it preached to them have received extra grace. And then those who have recieved it and experience it even more so. Each level of revelation is an extreme blessing, but it also carries with it the responsibility to do what God has required. Those who have recieved and experienced God’s bountiful blessings, and then allow themselves to be overcome by the former lusts of thier past life will be judged more severely.
The apostle James attests to this when he speaks of God’s judgment of teachers:
My brethern, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. – James 3:1
James knows that a teacher of the word is extremely important task, and not to be taken lightly. Those who teach will be in a place to receive great reward for their good work…or a greater judgment for their fall.
But why would anyone want to return to their old life? What does that old pile of vomit have to offer you that is so much better than the true bread of life? Those that try to lure you back into that lifestyle have not experienced the true life that Jesus has to offer. There is nothing there for you. Don’t forget the glorious experiences that you have had from The Lord. And don’t think that your christian experience will forever consist of that lull you are in. Turn your heart on fire for The Lord again. Seek Him with all your heart. You’ll find Him, and in Him you’ll find true life. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He says. He does not lie. The theif, however, is the father of lies. He’s going to promise you freedom, but he won’t tell you that ‘he who sins is a slave to sin,’ and that ‘by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.’ Do not be like the children of Isreal, who in their moments of testing desired to return back to slavery! And this even after they had seen the mighty wonders God had done in egypt and how He had parted the Red Sea!
Let us not be of those that fall back into perdition, but those who believe to the saving of the soul. Let’s be those who endure to the end. This world and it’s lusts will pass away, but those who do the will of God will abide forever.
Don’t be a dog that returns to it’s nasty vomit. Leave it be, and go on with God.
Hal Chaffee 