THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY - HOW TO BE A BETTER PERSON

Read Deuteronomy 30:15-20. What’s the difference between dogs and cats? Adam and Eve asked God to create a companion for them, that would remind them of God’s love for them. So God invented the dog, a reflection of his love for humanity.

But there was a problem. The dog loved Adam and Eve so much that they became prideful, strutting around the Garden of Eden like peacocks, believing they were fully worthy of the love that dog gave them.

The angels complained about Adam and Eve’s pride, so God said he would create a companion who would see them for who they really were and would remind them of their limitations. So God invented cat. Cat would not obey Adam and Eve and when they gazed into cat’s eyes, they weren’t sure whether he loved them or was just waiting for them to provide his next meal.

Adam and Eve learned humility.

Humility is a choice. It is easy to become proud and forget about God, particularly if we are experiencing some success. But we can choose to think about God and others more than ourselves. That was the choice Moses laid out before God’s people: choose to focus on God, on his commands and his ways and you will choose life. Rely on yourselves and think the Promised Land is all down to you and what you’ve done and choose death.

Like our humble dogs, will we choose life by focusing on others? Or will be cats who think life revolves around them? It’s up to us to decide!

THINK IT OVER

Think about the following:

How can you choose humility in the small, seemingly insignificant choices you make every day, as well as in the more obvious ones?