Jack was a hard worker on his father’s sheep ranch in Montana. There was always work to be done after school and on Saturdays: sheep to watch, shearing, fences to repair, and other jobs.
One day his father reported that during the last month four lambs were missing. They decided coyotes must have gotten them. The number of coyotes had been increasing the last few years, and now they were causing problems. Although they probably could not kill a full-grown sheep, lambs were an easy catch for a pack of coyotes.
A two-day coyote hunt was organized by Jack’s father. Several were found and shot. One of the ranchers found a coyote pup which they also wanted to kill. As Jack watched the pup, it reminded him of a small dog, so cute and helpless. The pup looked at Jack as if it expected him to take care of it. Jack decided that it would make a nice pet for his little sister, Cheryl. He finally convinced his father to let him keep it, but his father did not like the idea at all. When he finally agreed he reminded Jack, “It may be a cute puppy now, but it is a coyote, and a coyote it will always be!”
Jack wrapped the pup in his jacket and carried it back to the ranch for Cheryl. Soon the pup was another member of the ranch and was named Bucky. Everybody, including Jack’s father, enjoyed the playful pup. At night Bucky slept near the door since his watchful eyes and good hearing made him a good watchdog. No one really thought of him as a coyote.
One night when Bucky was about a year old, there was a full moon and the night air was cold. Some restless feeling within Bucky stirred him. He went to the edge of the yard and gave the long, mournful cry of the coyote. Jack, who had not gone to sleep yet, heard the call and looked out the window. In the moonlight he could see the shadows of several other coyotes, and without looking back, Bucky ran off to them. Bucky’s coyote nature had stirred within him and he had gone to live with his own kind.
Bucky had acted like a dog and lived like a dog. He even looked very much like a dog. But he was a coyote, and he had a coyote’s nature.
Some of you may act like a Christian and in every way pass as a Christian, but if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you are not a Christian at all. You were born a sinner, and you have a nature that sins. You may even have Christian parents and live in a home where the Bible is read and obeyed. You may go to Sunday school and repeat your Bible verses perfectly every week. But remember, you will always be a sinner in God’s sight unless you are born again — unless you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Saviour. He died for sinners and He wants you to be saved. He loved you so much that He came into this world and died on the cross, shedding His blood. Won’t you accept Him as your very own Saviour? If you do, God will give you a new heart and a new nature that cannot sin. Your sins will be gone, and you will no longer be a sinner in God’s sight. He will see you as a new person because of what the Lord Jesus has done.
ML-02/21/1988