Sixteen years old is pretty old for a dog, and Tyler had some old-age problems to prove it. He was half blind, partially deaf and wobbled on his feet. He had lived in an animal shelter for fifteen of his sixteen years and had been given good care, but now the animal shelter had to close. The owners of the shelter were trying to find homes for as many of the animals as they could. They knew Tyler would probably have to be put to sleep because nobody would want an old dog with the health problems he had. There wasn’t much hope that anybody would adopt Tyler.
Being hopeless is such a sad condition, and for people it isn’t limited to just old people. We all have a condition that affects every one of us, whether we are young or old or in between. It is called “sin,” and sin is an incurable condition for man. Romans 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12) tells us, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” That’s pretty hopeless—we are all sinners.
It looked pretty hopeless for Tyler too, until a newspaper reporter learned about the animal shelter closing and wrote a story about the animals needing to be adopted. The story described Tyler and included the dog’s likely fate because of his age and health problems.
When the story came out in the newspaper, a man by the name of Thomas read about Tyler and said, “It just broke my heart.” He contacted the animal shelter and told them he was interested in adopting Tyler. Thomas told them that he had adopted a stray dog ten years earlier when he found him in a railway yard near where he worked. He described the stray’s condition: “He was six months old, he had fleas, his fur was all matted, and his neck was bit up because another dog had attacked him.” Thomas cleaned him up, named him Razor and gave the dog a good home. He also had another dog named Sunshine, and he really wanted to give Tyler a happy home for the rest of his life too.
Things began to look hopeful for Tyler, and there is hope for sinners too. God, who is loving and merciful to sinners, planned a way to remove the sins of every sinner who wants to be saved. He sent Jesus, His sinless, spotless, perfect Son, down to this world to die for us on Calvary’s cross. He became the substitute by taking the punishment for the sins of every person who would repent and believe in Him as his or her very own Saviour. “The Lord . . . is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). There is no doubting God’s great love for sinners!
And Thomas’s love of dogs became very clear to the lady who ran the animal shelter. When she drove over to Thomas’s house and gently set the old dog on the lawn, Thomas said, “He’s adorable.” She watched as Thomas scratched Tyler behind the ears and then gently pulled the old dog onto his lap. “You’re such a sweetheart,” Thomas told Tyler. “I’ll take good care of you.”
Soon Tyler was exploring the backyard, and Razor and Sunshine gave the newcomer welcoming nuzzles. Tyler seemed to be settling right in, sometimes following Razor or Sunshine and sometimes going off on his own. Thomas turned and said to the lady, “He’s going to have a good life. I promise you.”
Those of us who accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour have an even more wonderful promise than His loving care the rest of our lives. He has promised us a happy home in heaven when life here on earth is over: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2323Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)). What a promise and what a hope we have! . . . And it will last for all eternity!
A woman in China who was a Christian went to visit a Chinese couple that had no children of their own. She found them happy because they had recently paid money to buy a four-year-old girl to raise as their own. They told the Christian woman that there was one thing about the little girl that puzzled them. Before the child would eat food, she always folded her hands, closed her eyes and said something.
The visitor knew at once that the little girl must have had a Christian upbringing. She then remembered that she had seen an advertisement about a lost girl in a Christian paper. The parents lived in a distant town.
She was finally able to find out where the little girl came from and that she was the missing child. She had been stolen and sold.
When the foster parents heard the facts, they returned the girl to her parents. What a happy time for both the little girl and her parents when they were together again.
Fathers and mothers, how are you training your children? “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:66Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)).
ML-11/04/2007