Of Rats and Men

This is the essay that started me back on the path to writing. I was in prayer when the image of a rat eating poison came to my mind. Through obedience to the Holy Spirit, I got up from my knees and sat down at my computer to type this out:


Am I the only one fascinated with how rat poison works? I find it quite interesting. Rats instinctively will eat just a tiny portion of their chosen meal and wait to see if it makes them sick, if they don’t feel sick within moments of the sampling, they proceed with the feast. So the rat, in need of nourishment, wanders into a home and finds the poison, hoping it will satisfy his ever-existing hunger. Even to a desperate scavenger, the deadly pellet can’t be the most appetizing thing he has ever laid his beady eyes on, but it’s something…and in his search to fill his belly, it’s certainly better than nothing! He tastes it, and when he does not immediately feel the adverse effects, he assumes it can’t be bad for him and continues to eat what will more than likely end up being his last meal. After the poison is devoured, he licks his nasty little rat fingers and moves along in his life’s journey of satisfying his unquenchable appetite. Little does he know that in just a few minutes of eating this particular dinner, an unseen chemical reaction will begin to take place at his very core.

The chief chemical used in most modern raticides is warfarin. This chemical works by clotting the blood, restricting blood flow and as a result causes the rodent to experience extreme thirst. In his new pursuit of quenching his thirst, the rat leaves the comforts of the human’s home in search of water to drink, thinking that the water will make his ill feeling go away. The harsh reality is, at this point, there is not enough water in the world that can save the rat’s life. The rat will die because his choice of food for the day, which seemed to be the answer for that hunger that lived in him, only lead him to thirst for another dead-end solution for his need to survive.

As Christians, we have been called to more than just survive. We have a much greater calling on our life than to just find our next temporary fix. We were not created to go from hunger-to-hunger or thirst-to-thirst. We were created to live from “glory-to-glory”. Yet time and time again, we see Christians in hot-pursuit of all the ‘stuff’ in this world that readily offers a solution to those hungers that live inside of us. We want to nibble at the subtle offerings of this life and see if it makes us sick right away. And when we don’t see or feel the effects right away, we assume it can’t be bad and eventually find ourselves immersed in a lifestyle that was never intended for us.

Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.” Our purpose in life is two-fold: to seek after that which pleases our Father in Heaven through a pursuit of eternal significance (the Kingdom of God), and strive for the character of God in every area of our lives, thus fulfilling our earthly purpose (His righteousness). Then all the other things that are needed in this life…and yes, even those things which we desire (the stuff) will be added to us, according to His will for our lives. Too often, as Christians, we find ourselves part of the “rat race” and find that we’re running harder and faster than ever before in pursuit of the things of this life. God has created us with a wonderful desire to want more out of life. This was in hopes that we would one day discover that this driving force, in us all, was placed there so that we would come to know Him more. But so many Christians have mistaken this divinely appointed desire for something else. It’s an error of mere degrees, in which we don’t put our trust in God, but rather in the blessings of God.

When our focus is on the blessings of God and not God himself, we find ourselves headlong in the sin of idolatry. When we plant the seed of idolatry in our core, we also gain a thirst to water that seed by continuing the pursuit of things rather than the pursuit of God. Before we even know what happened, we become like the unbelieving world; running full-speed, aimlessly through life trying to satisfy the unquenchable thirst for bigger houses, better paying jobs, and nicer cars. We wind up another contestant in the always tiring, never-ending “rat-race”. We completely lose sight of God Himself being the answer to all of our hungers and thirsts in life; the simple truth of Matthew 6:33. Psalms 107:8-9 says it this way, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” God longs to satisfy our needs. He takes pleasure in doing so. When we make Him the focus of our Christian walk, He cares for us in ways we can not fathom. He is the source for all we’ll ever need.

When we chose to follow after Christ, and trust God with our sin-dead lives, we turned our back on that old life of fending for ourselves. We are now in fellowship with the Almighty who owns everything in the universe and gives freely to those who live to know Him. God has invited us to feast at His table and enjoy the best of all He has to give. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). A rat’s life is no life for a Christian. We have no business blindly taste-testing the things of this world. When we do so, we put God’s will for our lives on the line. And if we’re too careless, we could risk our very lives. All we’ll ever need, in this life and the next, is found in Him. Christians, it’s time to put our faith and trust for provision back on the Lord. Once we have done that, we can get back to our true purpose in life – seeking His eternal Kingdom and pursuing His ever-blessed righteousness.