Dogs are wonderful animals, but God did not give them higher reasoning (the ability to think logically and make conscious choices).

When you bring home a new puppy, it is simply a bundle of uncontrolled desires. It wants to eat, drink, sleep, go to the bathroom, and play.

None of these desires are wrong, but they must be guided. For instance, a dog should eat from its bowl, not from the trash can. We want it to sleep in its bed, not chew on our shoes.

Since we cannot reason with a puppy, what do we do? We train them.

Training for Good Behavior

By training a dog, we teach it to overcome its raw impulses. We teach it not to drink from the toilet or soil the carpet.

We discourage bad behavior by saying “no” firmly or using a splash of water. We also reward good behavior with praise and treats. Over time, the dog learns to obey and can even perform tricks.

Spirit vs. Flesh

In a similar way, we must bring our physical body under the control of our spirit.

The apostle Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7:13-25. He writes about a war within us between the spirit and the flesh (our physical body and its natural desires).

Like an untrained dog, the flesh does not automatically follow God. It is simply a collection of basic desires: hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, and survival. None of these are evil by themselves, but they can easily be misused.

• Sex is beautiful within marriage, but sinful outside of it.
• Thirst is natural, but drunkenness is wrong.
• Sleep is necessary, but laziness is sinful.
• Survival is a healthy instinct, but if we renounce Christ to save our physical lives, we will be lost eternally, Matthew 10:33.

Christians must bring their physical desires under the control of the mind, and submit their mind to the will of God.

Under Grace, Not Sin

Paul gives us clear instructions on how to win this battle in Romans 6:12-14:

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness (tools used for sinning) to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion (ruling power) over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

We must choose daily to present our bodies as tools for doing what is right, rather than letting sin control us.