DON’T BITE YOUR GROOMER

Lisa Torres was in fits of laughter after returning to the dog groomers to find her pet Cheddar had been left with a shaved body and full head of hair when his sassy behavior cut the session short.

Cut Short

Recently Lisa Torres, a 39-year-old mother of three, posted a hilarious story on Facebook. It appears that the New Jersey mom dropped her little “Shih-Poo” (a shih tzu-poodle mix) off at PetSmart to get a trimming. The ten-pound dog is named Cheddar, and he had gone through the entire Covid-19 lockdown without a haircut. By the time PetSmart finally re-opened, Cheddar resembled a mop and could barely see.

But Cheddar’s haircut was cut short – no pun intended. The PetSmart manager phoned Lisa to tell her that Cheddar had been a bad boy. He’d bit the groomer twice and was completely uncooperative through the haircut. To avoid being bit again, the groomer curtailed the grooming. Yet the endeavor was not a total loss. The groomer had managed to trim the hair over most of Cheddar’s body.  Only the hair of his head remained untouched. She had also given Cheddar a shampoo and blow-dry.

When Lisa arrived to pick up her naughty dog, she apologized profusely to the groomer, paid the full bill, and left a hefty tip. But when the groomer brought him out to her, Lisa screamed in laughter. Cheddar looked like an exploded Q-Tip. Lisa said he looked like an alpaca with a slender body and a big puffy head.

What made the event even funnier to Lisa was that Cheddar strutted around imperiously, oblivious to how ridiculous he looked. For the next ten minutes, Lisa laughed so hard that her stomach ached and she was unable to drive. She recorded the event and posted it on Facebook, where it was shared 250,000 times.

Cooperate With God

If you’re feeling sorry for Cheddar, then it might help to know that he earned a stocking full of coal last Christmas. He can be a little too sassy for his own good, and he often bullies his much bigger “brother,” a beagle. So, the silly haircut may have been some long-overdue justice for the moody little tyrant. But Lisa plans to get his grooming job finished as soon as things mend between him and his longsuffering groomer.

You know, a lot of Christian believers behave similarly like little Cheddar. God promises that by his sacrifice, we are saved from a life of misery in sin.  But, when it comes to cleaning up their lives and making them more like Jesus, they’re as uncooperative with God as Cheddar was with his groomer.

They think to themselves, “God loves me just as I am.”  So instead of growing in their faith and character development, they remain a spiritual babe.  They snarl at God for the adversity He allows in their lives. They bite back and stubbornly resist God’s efforts to make them holy.

When Paul the apostle wrote to the Corinthian church, he was facing Christian believers with this very same problem – spiritual immaturity. He wrote, “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.  For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

Yes, the Corinthian Christians were in a mess, yet they were as haughty and “holier-than-thou” as ever. They were oblivious to their own spiritual poverty and how pathetic they looked to God. As one popular Christian author said, “Yes, God loves you as you are. But He loves you too much to leave you that way.” The Scripture commands us, “grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 5:18) and to be transformed into His image (Romans 12:1-2).

PRAYER

Dear Father in heaven, I don’t want to remain a spiritual baby and an embarrassment to You. Please, dear Father, soften my stubborn heart and make it submissive to You. Help me to cooperate with Your Holy Spirit as He strives to make me more and more like Jesus, Your holy Son. Work in my heart, O God, to desire to do Your will and empower me to do it. For Jesus’ sake and for His glory I ask this, Amen.