Maggie was glad to see me, but she came to meet me rather slowly. In fact, she was leaning backwards with her arms full of a big brown dog which was very much alive.
I do not know what goes on inside the brain of a big brown dog, but I know he was happy with the arms that held him. If he felt like running, he showed no sign of it. Loyalty and obedience kept him right where he was.
But I was a stranger, not to Maggie but to the dog. I was a trespasser on family property, and you know how dogs dislike trespassers. His brain told him that it was time for an angry bark, and even Maggie’s arms did not change this feeling.
However, there was a problem. In his doggie mouth was a nice meaty bone, perhaps a special gift from a neighbor, and he was carrying it home for a good chew. Now his doggie brain had to make a choice - the bark or the bone. He could not bark at me and keep the bone in his mouth.
I don’t know how a doggie brain works or whether he knew that he could not have both the bark and the bone. But I have some idea of how our brains work, and we have choices to make too. You have been given this story today, and you may read it carefully and find that God has a good message in it for you. Or you may think unkind thoughts and perhaps say angry words against those who give such information to you.
Why would you do that? Because God is a stranger to you. You don’t know that He loves you. You don’t know His beloved Son whom He sent so that you might not perish in your sins but be cleansed from them and have everlasting life. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
If you knew Him - if you knew how much He loves you - if you knew what He has done so that He could pardon and cleanse you - surely you would gladly and thankfully receive His wonderful salvation!
Perhaps you can guess what choice that brown dog made. He barked a whole series of angry barks, and when he opened his mouth to bark, the bone fell to the ground. His anger at me was greater than his hunger for the bone. Even Maggie had a hard time quieting him. He stayed outside during our visit and perhaps went back to his juicy bone, if it was still there.
But after your indifference or anger, will you ever have a chance to go back and receive God’s loving forgiveness? Perhaps. I cannot tell. But right now, today, is the time to learn His love for a sinner like you. The anger of God is yet to come, but right now is the day of His grace and His love and His forgiveness. He does not offer bones that last only a short while; He offers eternity with Himself in His heavenly home. Will you make a choice far, far better than the brown dog did and accept His loving-kindness now and forever?
ML-04/20/2003