Last month, in the Philippines, our awesome contacts had a not-so-awesome dog. Her name was Momochan, which in Japanese means “dear”, as in “Hello, dear!” But Momo was far from dear-like. She was quite mangy looking, definitely flea infested (manifested by her constantly scratching herself to the point of drawing blood), and she stunk—bad, like really bad. Think wet dog multiplied by 100, add some raw sewage and fish that has been outside in the hot sun for wayyy too long. So much so that I could not stand to be around her, if she was even within six feet of me, I could smell her. Yuck!
BUT. (Come on, with the title, you knew this was coming)
One Sunday morning as I looked at Momo on the stage (yes, she sat up on the stage during Pastor Al’s preaching and worship) scratching and scratching herself and just looking at her, honestly quite disgusted. God whispered something to me. He said:
You, are Momo.
Wait, what God?!?!
Yes, that’s right, YOU are Momo.
Without me even asking, He explained.
- When God looks at me without the lens of Christ, I am most definitely mangy looking; I’m sure even worse than Momo. Spiritually speaking, the sins of my life have scarred and marred me to look like I have been involved in many a street fight in dark alleys among dangerous cities.
- Like Momo, I too have fleas in the form of sins in my life that pester me constantly, and that cause me to potentially injure myself because I don’t allow them to be taken care of. Sins of jealousy, comparison, and lack of love.
- Because God is so holy, he can’t even be in the presence of sin, it is absolutely repulsive to him. And sin to God is much more nauseating than the smell of Momo. But even though I reek of sin, God chose to cover my stench with the blood of Christ. And how thankful I am!!
I wish I could say that I decided to be nicer to Momo and pet her and befriend her, but I didn’t. I left shortly after this divine revelation. I am so thankful that God decided to adopt me though, no matter how mangy, sin-infested and stanky I was and am still prone to be. I am inexplicably thankful for Christ and his covering over of my sin and my stanky-ness.
