My dog Rocky loves hunting for lizards. He pounces on shrubs to see what scurries out and then tries to chase after it. My leash frustrates his efforts.

One day, I thought he had his head buried in a shrub sniffing down a lizard hole, but he came up with the desiccated carcass of a rat. It was a flat mat of fur and dried skin. To me it was disgusting. To Rocky it was the height of delicious treasure. It took me a long time to get him to drop it and leave it alone.

Because of sin, my body and its related desires are as dead and desiccated as that rat. And they are just as disgusting to God as the rat was to me. He wonders how I can be so obsessed with my body — the way it looks, the way it feels, the things it craves — when the really important stuff has nothing to do with my body.

I feed my dog delicious and nutritious food, and yet he really wanted that rat. God provides the best for me, and yet I turn away from Him in search of momentary good feelings and the approval of people who don’t love me.

God has the power to return that dead husk of a rat back into a healthy, thriving rodent. In the same way, He has the power to save my dead and mortal body and give me a meaningful, eternal life.

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.” (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭11,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

All I have to do is obey. Drop the rat and trust Him to provide.

Dear God,

Thank you for providing me a way out of my dead end search for goodness and meaning. I know these things, and true life, can only be found in you. Remind me to put away my concerns of my body and look instead to your purposes for me today.