The Tale of Two Wolves

A grandfather told his grandson this story, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside all of us. One is evil. It is angry, jealous, greedy, resentful, lies and has a large ego. The other is good. It is joyful, peaceful, loving, hopeful, humble, kind, empathetic and truthful.”

The boy thought for a minute and then asked, “Grandfather, which one wins?”

The grandfather quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

I came across this story and immediately thought of Galatians Chapter 5:16-22.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

I really like the grandfather’s answer, “The one you feed.” Like the saying about record keeping, garbage in…garbage out. What we “feed” our minds with will determine which “wolf” or spiritual force will win our hearts.

The thing I have learned is to ask the question is this idea entering my mind about pleasing me or is it about pleasing God and others. I have come to realize all sin starts with me being self-focused.

Not everything I do for myself is sinful, but being self-focused is a slippery slope. Look again at the acts of the flesh. They are all about me pleasing myself or my reaction to others that are not pleasing me.

Then look at the fruit of the Spirit. Caring for others is the core of living under the Holy Spirit’s control. We decide which wolf we feed.

May our Lord help us all live by His Spirit’s guidance.