One afternoon many years ago, some children were going home from school when they saw a boy sitting on the bank of a river with a little dog on his lap. As they came to where the boy sat, they noticed that there was a cord around the dog’s neck, and at the other end there was a big stone tied to the cord. The little boy was crying as if his heart would break, and every now and then, he gave the little dog a hug. Several of the boys stood by him for a while, but no one wanted to ask him why he was crying.
About then, a man came walking along the river bank. When he came to the boy with the dog, he stopped, and, kindly, he asked, “What are you going to do with the dog, my boy?”
Bursting into tears again the boy said, “My boss sent me to drown it, sir, but I never drowned a dog in my life or killed any of God’s creatures, and I cannot do it!”
“Why does he want the dog drowned?” asked the man.
“I think it’s because he doesn’t need it, and nobody would buy it, sir,” replied the boy, beginning to hope that the man would somehow get him out of the sad job he had been told to do.
“Come along with me to your boss, and we’ll find out. I need a dog, and if he will sell him to me, I will save you from having to drown him,” said the man.
What a relief! The boy wiped away his tears, cut the stone off the cord, and in a minute was on the way to his boss’s house with the man walking by his side. All the school children followed along to see what would happen.
The boy’s boss was very happy to sell the dog. The money was paid, and Hero — as his new owner named him — was saved from death and given to his new owner, who had redeemed him. He grew up to be a very nice dog, and he was a good guard dog for his new owner.
Have you been bought? That may seem like a strange question, but this dog is a picture of all who know the Lord Jesus. We belonged to a master who only wanted to “kill and to destroy” us (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)). But the Lord Jesus came to earth, in His great love, to buy us back for God, who wanted to save us and to make us His own much-loved children. The price the Lord Jesus paid shows His great love for you, for it was His own blood. We have been “redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). Now, if we have been redeemed (or bought back), we have a job to do for Him, just as the dog had a job to do for his new owner. Have you been redeemed?
Messages of God’s Love 10/20/2024