Every time I see a video of someone walking a dangerous animal on the end of a leash, my first thought is a question, “Are you kidding?” In our anthropomorphic world reality is overcome by the untrustworthiness of our emotions and the false hope that the beast on the other end of the leash will not revert to its natural tendency and devour its vulnerable and foolish prey. Videos revealing the aftermath of such delusions are horrific to watch.

This desire to turn lions, tigers, and leopards into house cats doesn’t apply just to live animals with large teeth. It relates to how we deal with greed, lust, fear, and perversions of all kinds. The spiritual animal at the end of our flimsy leash of stupidity will at some point overpower our will and consume us, especially if we have been led to believe we can tame it without God and still maintain a life of faith. 

This applies to a variety of issues – our daily habits, family relationships, what standard we use to form government policy or the way a church is led. What’s on the end of our leash must be discerned in the light of truth or we will continue to walk through life living within a fantasy.

One definition of spiritual sanity is expressed in II Corinthians 2:5, “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Delusions that try to convince us the spiritual tiger on the end of our leash will never turn on us must be brought to the Lord. We then hand him the leash through confession and repentance. Until we are willing to turn the leash over to the Lord, we will continue to walk around town with our favorite delusion until one day the predator on the leash decides its mealtime.