Cat & Dog Theology by Bob Sjogren

Author:Bob Sjogren [Sjogren, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780830858675
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2014-01-13T06:00:00+00:00

Figure 7

The graph shows “Difficult Times” going up. As tough circumstances come into our lives, the line moves upwards. Moving from left to right, you find “Potential Glory,” that is, the degree or amount of glory that God can get. As our difficult times increase, our potential for radiating God’s glory grows!

So as the graph shows, if we have a little bit of a hard time, we have the potential to give God a small degree of glory. As we have greater difficulty, we have a greater opportunity to give God greater glory. And if we have an extremely hard time, we can give God extreme glory. The greater the degree of difficulty, the greater the potential for giving our Father glory.

Although Dogs aren’t out looking for hard times, when they do come, Dogs see them as opportunities to reveal more of God’s glory! But when there are times that God’s glory doesn’t shine through more and greater blessings, how do Cats tend to respond? When there is deep emotional hurt, when there is cancer, when there is a rape, when there is an early death, then they cry, “Foul! God, that’s not fair!” and are totally unaware of the potential for glorifying God. In fact, if they aren’t being blessed, they think they have no reason to glorify God.

When things aren’t fair for Cats, they begin to blame God for what happens. As a result, Cats get bitter toward God, resentful, and even angry at Him. Typically Cats never stop to consider that these are blessings in disguise or opportunities designed to allow them to point to God’s glory in a greater way. And this is the very purpose of life! As these situations arise, Christians can reveal His glory and His supremacy by thanking Him, praising Him, and worshiping Him. But because Cats don’t see it that way, potential glory is lost. Glory that could have been radiated to God is gone, and we’ve robbed a jealous God of His glory.

Imagine that you’re driving down the road late at night, and you get a flat tire. God knew it was going to happen (that’s what His sovereignty is all about). How are you going to respond? Are you going to say, “God, this is rotten timing as far as I’m concerned, but I know You’re in control; I’m going to trust You and praise You for this”? (Oh, how that faith and trust in God displays His glory!) And will you begin to sing the Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow . . .”? No, most of the time we act like Cats, focusing on what we get out of it and quietly cursing the situation. And the moment we begin to do that, we are robbing God of His glory.

One woman’s daughter became a quadriplegic. To take care of her daughter this woman had to change everything, quitting her job and becoming a full-time caretaker. How did this mother respond? She could have said, “Lord, this means I’m going to have to quit my job.

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