The headline in the newspaper article read, “CONDEMNED GRIZZLY GIVEN A NEW LIFE.” Most of us are aware that a grizzly bear can be a terribly dangerous animal to be near. It can turn vicious if it is hungry, especially if it is a mother with cubs.
The grizzly in this story lived in the state of Montana. In her search for food, she roamed along the edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area.
People taking vacations sometimes camp in that wilderness area, and campers always carry food. It doesn’t take long for bears to smell it and find it. Smart campers keep their food in their cars or hang it high on ropes between two trees. But not all campers follow these safety rules; some leave food on the ground in canvas packs or in coolers. This is like sending the bears an invitation to dinner. After bears have found food in a camping area once, they will return night after night to search for more. All campers, even sleeping ones, are in danger when there is a grizzly bear around. A grizzly has a mean nature and will turn nasty, attacking people and sometimes killing them.
This three-year-old Montana grizzly learned where the camping areas were, and she began raiding them each night. She soon became well-known to the rangers who patrolled the area. They tried tranquilizing her and moving her far away while she was asleep, but she always found her way back. The rangers fastened a collar radio around her neck to keep track of her.
This grizzly was also well- known to ranchers living near the wilderness area for two reasons. She raided the beehives that some ranchers kept (honey is a bear’s favorite food), and she dug up cattle bones in fields where ranchers had buried them.
She soon got to be so troublesome that the rangers were ordered to capture her and get rid of her before she attacked a person. She was condemned.
All grizzly bears are born with a mean nature that wants to kill. Bears cannot change their nature. All people are born with a sinful nature that wants to sin. We cannot change our sinful nature either. Because of our sins, we are condemned to die. “By one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (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)). But there is hope for us.
Zoo keepers in Detroit, Michigan, heard about the grizzly bear’s death sentence. Because she was a young, healthy animal, they decided that she was worth keeping alive. They offered to give her a permanent home in their zoo. Even though they couldn’t change the mean nature she was born with, she could have a contented life in the zoo where she would be fully cared for and where she would not be a danger to people.
We are pleased that the zoo keepers offered to care for the grizzly and give her a new life. But they would always have to be very careful around her because of her nature that wants to kill.
The Lord Jesus knows all about our sinful nature. Although He hates our sins, He loves us so much He is offering the gift of everlasting life to all sinners-including you and me. He has a happy home ready in heaven for anyone who will accept His offer of forgiveness for their sins. Those who accept it are given a new nature that loves to please Him. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away . . . all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)).
Using several dogs to track her, the rangers hoped to capture the grizzly alive. Her collar radio beeped a signal that told them she had moved outside the wilderness area in her search for food and was near one of the ranches. She finally was cornered by two of the dogs that chased her under the porch of a ranch house. She was captured alive.
The newspaper article says that after she was shipped to the Detroit Zoo, they gave her a special meal of herring and honey, to help her like her new life. She now is no longer a condemned grizzly.
If you have accepted the Lord Jesus’ loving offer to forgive your sins, you can put your name in that headline and change it to read, “CONDEMNED _____ GIVEN A NEW LIFE AND A NEW NATURE.”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
ML-07/11/2004