7T times 7:

When are mere words not enough?

When do our words, in order to be true, require action?
How long must we contend with each other, apologize, do nothing about it, and do the same all over again?

My spirit faced these questions from the Spirit of God as I struggled with an issue with a neighbor. Here’s the gist:

We have several free-range chickens.
We live on plenty of land for the chickens to walk, scratch, and eat whatever it is chickens eat.
Our chickens wander, but not frequently outside of our property.

Our neighbor across the road has two dogs.
One is a Rottweiler; the other is a Boxer.
Over the past handful of months, 4 chickens have been killed or maimed (2 of each category, actually) by his dogs on our own property.

The neighbor always admits when his dogs are in the wrong.
He always apologizes for it.
But, he always says he’s going to put up a fence, or do whatever it is he says he’s going to do to make the rampage stop.

He and I had a phone conversation (because I was at work during the most recent attack that maimed yet another chicken), and he offered the same ol’ apologies and offered the same trite promises.
Empty words at this point.

About an hour after the conversation, the Spirit of God mauled me like a Rottweiler does a chicken:

“Mike, day-in and day-out you sin. Not just any sin, but the same ol’ sin. The one you did yesterday, and the day before that, and the month before that, and the year before that, and the decade before that. You sin – you apologize – I forgive. For what, just to do it all over again? You say you’re going to do something about it; you say you’ll put up your own ‘fence’ in order to guard your mind. When are you going to do that, son? As soon as you start building the fence, you take it right back down again. Your words are just that – words! And quite frankly, I’m fed up with them. They are mere, hollow, empty words. When are you going to take action? After all, faith without action is dead faith! How long must I contend with you and forgive you and tolerate your empty apologies? You ask for My help? ‘What do I do, God?’ you ask. Forgive him. Forgive. Period. No strings attached. ‘But how often?’ you ask? Seventy times seven – as often as it takes for Dennis to finally see Me through you. That’s how often. Because that’s precisely what I’ve done for you.”

Nuff said.
I jumped right back on the phone and expressed our forgiveness to Dennis.
It was difficult, but it was the right thing to do.

Now, if I could just find a way to protect the chickens...