I know that Grampa (he’s my dad) writes about dogs and other animals. But I don’t think he ever wrote about a dog going to Sunday school. Recently, a beautiful dog, a Golden Retriever, walked in through the open back door as we were sitting in Sunday school.
Now that was a surprise! At least the dog didn’t bark, and he didn’t growl. And I think he knew he shouldn’t be there. He kept his head down and walked right across the room, not daring to look around at anybody. I think it was his first time inside the building.
His visit didn’t last long, however. We quickly showed him the way out. Then he went next door where he lives and chewed on an old bone.
Did you ever wonder why dogs don’t go to Sunday school? Well, that’s easy to answer, isn’t it? Animals are not like children or grown-ups. God made them different. They don’t think about God or about sins or about heaven.
God made all the animals, but the Bible says that people, and that includes boys and girls too, are made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:2727So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27)). That means that we are like God in some ways. We like to make things, we enjoy beautiful things, and we think about God.
Animals don’t care about beautiful gardens. They just run right through them and trample the flowers, as your mom runs to rescue her plants. And animals never pray.
Do you know why you think about God? It’s because God made you that way. We think about God, His power, His wisdom and wonder how beautiful heaven must be. We think about how the Lord Jesus came into the world and how He helped so many people. And most importantly, we remember that because He loves us so much, He willingly died on the cross for us and took the punishment for the sins of every person who believes on Him. And that opens the door to God’s beautiful heaven for us. He certainly is a God of love, isn’t He? The Bible tells us, “God is love” (1 John 4:1717Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)).
Just thinking about that makes me want to thank Him for His wonderful love. Of course, God made me feel that way. You see, children, we can do something that dogs can’t do. We can learn about the Lord Jesus, accept Him as our Saviour, trust Him, love Him and serve Him. God made us that way. He is so wonderful!
ML-12/27/2015