Do You Live Out of a Dog or Cat Theology?

Church Family:
I have had several dogs in my life. Two of my dogs lived for fifteen years each, which means I enjoyed Snoopy and Salty for a total of thirty years. Those two dogs were like my best friends and had a great impact on my life. There is no doubt they both looked at me and thought, “Master Steve, you feed me, you pet me, you shelter me, you love me— "You must be God!” Their humble, caring dog-thinking made them serve and bless me for fifteen years each. Snoopy and Salty looked at me as the center of their universe, and they believed their lives existed to serve and glorify me. They were blessed by me to be a blessing to me and others.

Meanwhile, living on a ranch in the Midwest we had, on average, eight to ten cats for the purpose of minimizing our vast mice population in the barns. Those cats looked at me with such arrogance. There is no doubt each of those self-absorbed cats looked at me and thought, “Servant Steve, you feed me, you pet me, you shelter me, you love me— "I am God!”  Their mindset was that I existed to serve them, making themselves the center of their feline experience on their narcissistic planet. They were blessed by me only to selfishly enjoy the blessings themselves.

As we live on the earth as Christians, we will either have a “dog theology” or “cat theology.” We either live out “I have been blessed by God to be a blessing to others” or we live like “I have been blessed by God because that is why He exists, to bless me.”

When we think about the blessings of God in our lives we usually think about material possessions that we have. However, while every good thing—whether material, emotional, spiritual, or relational—comes from God. We must not forget God’s greatest blessing is sending His Son to die on the cross, covering us with mercy because of our sins, calling us His children, comforting us in all our pain and loss in this world, bestowing to us eternal life and setting everything right in our souls—this is our great blessing. This is what it means to be truly blessed. He pours out these gracious blessings upon you with an eternal purpose. Every blessing in your life has a mission. We are told in Psalm 67, the blessings that God floods your life with, as His child, are not an end in themselves. His purpose for every blessing that He pours into your life is so that you use them to make others all around this world eternally happy in Him.

It is easy to live a life in which we disconnect the mission of the blessings of God from the blessings themselves. When we separate the mission from the blessing, we live a self-absorbed “cat-theology” existence. Christianity and the Church then becomes a self-absorbed place that is all about God giving us more and more blessings to receive, not ever thinking of God’s purpose for those blessings. If your life is piled high with blessings and prosperity and you never use those blessings to sacrificially serve others with a purpose infinitely more important than your own happiness, those blessings will rot.

Instead, God calls you into an intimate relationship with Himself to then send you out to invite others into the same relationship. God blesses you, so that you will be a blessing to others. As God's child, true satisfaction comes from fully dedicating yourself to your Father's purposes in His blessings in your life. Our Father's purpose is to be known, praised, enjoyed, and celebrated by all people worldwide.

How do you bless others with God’s blessings?
-Recognize your God-given blessings.
-Ask God to identify who needs to be blessed by your blessings.
-Bless others with your blessings.
-Repeat.

See you Sunday, blessed by God: Steve