I’ve Had Enough of This Pig Slop
By Gail Davis

We have heard the familiar story about the prodigal son – you know the one who asked his father for his inheritance and having received it prematurely went and squandered it on wild and reckless living then ended up feeding the pigs to survive (Luke 15:11-32).  For many of us, we think life in the pig pen is beyond our sphere of environments, we can’t relate to it because no rational person will allow themselves to go there, not under normal circumstances anyway.

On the contrary, I am here to tell you that all of us, at one time or another, has had what I call a ‘pig slop moment.’  That is a place, and it is not a physical pig pen, but a place where you find yourself in a position of worthlessness – you are at your worse; a repulsive place that absolutely disgusts you, a place where mediocrity, despair and darkness abound, and a place that smells so badly it makes you say Yuk!  because of the things you do.

The joy and revelation the prodigal son brings to us about all of this is there is a better way – the Bible says ‘when he came to his senses…’ that is a Hold Up, Wait A Minute! moment.  That is the moment you recognize there is a better way or you recognize that you are someone special and you belong to someone special, and something better is at your disposal.  The story continues on to say that his father threw him a party and received him back with open arms, gave him new clean clothes, and bestowed honor upon him for him coming to his senses.

Let me explain some pig slop moments then maybe you will be able to relate to the prodigal son and say, ‘yeah, I have been in that place ’or‘ I am still in that place and want to get out!’

Some Pig Slop Moments
When you find yourself in a place where you are tired of being there, fed up, you don’t want to do this anymore, you are ready for transformation.  That’s what a pig slop moment is.

Have you ever gone to a bar or a party, had a few drinks, picked someone up and brought them home with you, and when you awake in the morning you roll over to discover that you don’t remember how they got there or what their name is and you say, ‘what was I thinking?’ – that’s a pig slop moment – you have done it for the last time, you are tired of waking up with strangers and it has left a bad taste in your mouth.

Here are some other examples of pig slop moments:
·    You’re in an abusive relationship, physically and/or emotionally and you find yourself on the floor curled up in a fetal position holding your body and then it hits you like a ton of bricks ‘hold up wait a minute!’ – what am I doing here?
·    You’re addicted to something that is destructive and causes you grief and discomfort it could be a substance, sex, video games, or lying and gossip
·    You stay in a relationship with a married person or someone you know you are not supposed to be with – that is settling for mediocrity
·    You’re controlling and manipulative and you find yourself cut off from people,      no one wants to be around you anymore

You may have your own pig slop moment to add to this list that is personal and pertains to your situation since you were there at one time, or you are still there now.

I know for me, the straw that broke the camel’s back was being in a relationship (nine years ago) with a player, an old player at that, who had several women in addition to the one he was living with.  Call it mediocrity at its finest – why, because when you settle for paging someone instead of being able to call them at home, that is mediocrity — I knew about it and stayed there anyway (it was the sex).  As a matter of fact I spent several years in a life of promiscuity after leaving my husband, dabbling with different men searching for God knows what – thrills, comfort, a good time, love, yet all I got after the thrill was gone was a dirty feeling, like I was giving something in me of value away.  I was never satisfied, and I knew there was more to me than my tail.  That was the pig slop moment for me, and when I came to my senses and said, “Hold up wait a minute! why am I settling for mediocrity when I was someone’s queen, their number one, what is my problem? I don’t want to be like this anymore!” there was a shift in the spirit realm.

All of us are not in a prodigal son’s relationship.  For those people who never had an opportunity to have a relationship with the Lord or know about the promises in His Word, let me tell you, God loves you too, and has only the best for you, and the best part for you is there are occasions when the Lord himself has a hold up wait a minute moment for you when you don’t know there is a better way, that there is a loving Father waiting for you.

What’s Holding You Back?
Many times we hold ourselves back after coming to our senses because we let pride interfere and it keeps us from returning to our Father.  Do you realize that pride is a quiet, yet dangerous spirit and it causes us to stay in positions and situations that are harmful, destructive, smelly, and it even prevents us from confessing our sins to God.

The father of the prodigal son forgot all about the fact that his son took his hard earned money and squandered it.  He was more excited about his son having sense to come back to the better way of life then dwelling on the loss.  We will all, at some point or another in our lives, stray off the path of right living and venture into the pleasures of the world; you know that wide gate that Jesus talks about that many will travel on that leads to destruction, but we are to forgive and celebrate when our loved ones, friends and even we ourselves come to our senses.  There should be ‘hold up wait a minute parties’ going on around the clock because somebody is surrendering their old way of life for a new one, a better one and exchanging their old filthy garments for new ones.

Take a minute to examine your life – where you are right now — are you in the pig pen ready and waiting to be transformed?  Are you at the point of surrendering the old lifestyle and old way of thinking that is keeping you in the pig slop?  Are you ready and willing to abolish pride and kill stubbornness so you can move out of that position of stuck in the mud?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you have placed yourself in a position for transformation to take place, positioned to begin a wonderful new journey with the Lord.  If all of this is new to you, your journey begins upon accepting Jesus as your Savior and Lord and receiving the free gift of His Holy Spirit who is given to you as a Helper.  We cannot change ourselves – hey who does that willingly anyway?  If left up to us, we would stay in a whole lot of stuff that is ungodly, but thanks be to God who gives to us freely His great gifts.

I developed a wonderful relationship with Holy Spirit whom I call on all the time to help me.  At first I did not think I could survive without sex, but after He lifted that lust demon  and stuck a pin in my tail, I did just fine and I have been fleeing fornication ever since.  I was no longer looked at with those ‘you have any fries to go with that shake’ comments from men when I walked down the street.  Now don’t get me wrong, there have been several bouts with my flesh since the seven year mark, but I call on the Lord for help to get and keep my flesh under subjection.

Celebrate
When the father saw his son returning home in the distance he began rejoicing and assembled his servants to prepare for the biggest celebration ever – God did the same thing for me – there was a party in heaven that went on for hours.  I tell people my angels partied until they passed out – they were so excited for me coming to my senses that God had to wake them up in the morning by saying, ‘uh, don’t y’all have something to do?”  It was at that moment that my transformation began to take effect, that the Lord responded and sent me help to begin the process and begin the journey on the path of righteousness.  I thank God for His Holy Spirit who helped me turn my life around, and ‘No More Sheets’ for allowing me the opportunity to scrub all those men off!

Do not despise your brother or sister’s hold up wait a minute moment.  Just as the father of the prodigal son assured his other son (when he became angry about the celebration) “we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found,” (Luke 15:32 NIV) we have to do the same, if it is that important to God, it has to be important to us as well.  The pig slop is not a place that anyone has to stay in, nor a place to get comfortable in – we have a choice to leave and when that choice is made — celebrate.

So when we see people praising the Lord with all their might, giving God a radical, crazy praise, we don’t know the cost of their praise, their cause for celebration – just celebrate with them, rejoice and give thanks that they even came to their senses, encourage them with songs and hymns.  It is then that we can then sing with sincere appreciation and truth ‘I gave Him my old filthy garments, He gave me a robe of pure white, now I’m feasting on manna from heaven, that is why I’m happy tonight!’

Gail Davis, a native of Brooklyn, New York.
A servant of God and born again Christian, who surrendered her life back to God eight years ago after many years of living life in a backslidden state. She is founder and owner of The Winning Image, a graphic design and marketing company whose mission is “to make you look good on paper.” Services range from logo designs, creation of marketing and advertising materials, brochures, banners, flyers, invitations, souvenir journals – anything printable. Contact Gail at Winimge@aol.com