The Destructive Deer!

Like many of you who live in New Jersey (and probably elsewhere), our home is in a neighborhood that is surrounded by deer. In fact, Kim and I live close to an arboretum that is filled with more and more deer every year. And every day, those deer wander out of their patch of woods and onto our lawns and into our yards, destroying just about everything in their path, or so it seems. 

Don’t get me wrong, deer are beautiful creatures. Their fawns make you almost want to take one home. And what they do is not their fault; after all, they’re just animals doing what comes to them by instinct. Yet, the truth is they wreak havoc in a neighborhood such as ours, pulling up flowers, eating away at bushes, eating the seed I put out for the birds—even hopping the fence—and leaving their droppings wherever they happened to be. In fact, the other day as I was sitting in our backyard I noticed that one of our bushes was half of what it was just a few days ago. Apparently, the deer had been there!  

If you think about it, there are a lot of things in life that when kept in their proper place are beautiful and good. When, however, they are let out beyond the borders of where they ought to be, they become destructive forces in our world and in our lives. Such is especially the case with the desires of our human nature. An appetite to eat and the pleasure that comes with eating a well-cooked meal is good; when let loose it becomes gluttony. The desire to make a living to support oneself and family is good; when let loose it becomes materialism and greed. The desire to experience intimacy with another human being is beautiful; when let loose beyond the confines of what is pure, it becomes lust. And the list can go on.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Whoever sows to please their flesh (i.e., human nature) will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8 – NIV) He understood the havoc and destruction that our natural desires, when let loose, can bring into our world and into our lives citing such things as “sexual immorality, impurity…hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, envy, drunkenness….” He also understood the beauty that comes about when we follow after the Holy Spirit who helps us keep those natural desires in their proper place: “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  (See Galatians 5:19-23) 

Let me encourage you today to ask the Holy Spirit to help you live in such a way that the desires of your human nature might be kept in their proper place, and thus bring about that which is good, pure, and beautiful in and through your life. Rather than allowing those things to bring about destruction, allow the Holy Spirit to use them to bring about that which leads to eternal life. 

Have a great day! And…watch out for those deer! 

- Pastor Tim Harris