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ARTICLES & DEVOTIONS >> HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGIE...

How Much is That Doggie in the Window?

I walked through the door of my local animal rescue league and looked at all of the cute little animals there. My heart broke for them. I’m such a sucker for a cute face and a wet kiss! I’m a sucker for even an ugly face and a wet kiss! They were all so precious! Some of them were jumping up and down, wiggling all around, just begging me to pet them… some lay there and looked at me out of their little puppy dog eyes, sort of disinterested. And some slept right through my arrival, never even knowing that I was there. I marveled at their ability to sleep through all of the commotion.

So, what did I come here for? Oh, yeah, a single pet. I looked around to see what they had. Oh, looka there! What a cute little puppy! Look at how he jumps and pants… he knows I’m here to take one of them home, and he wants it to be him! Oh, there’s another one… gee, he looks kind of old and beat up… poor thing. And look at that cat… boy does she have cat-attude! Suddenly I heard a growl from behind me. It was a big gruff, mean looking dog whose cage I had gotten too close to. Someone must have mistreated him. I’d love to just be able to pet him and hug him.

I have to pick just one animal to bring home with me? Out of all of the precious little souls here that need to be loved and rescued, and I can only go home with one? How can I choose?

We are just like all of those poor little animals that need to be rescued… the GREAT news is that The One that has come to adopt us does not have to choose just one! He can take us all home with Him! Jesus came to the animal rescue league (read: the earth) to save us all! And sadly, not all of us are jumping up and down, begging him to come over to us. I myself used to be the cat with cat-attude (read: contentious woman). I could not have cared less what went on around me, because I was in complete control of the situation, or so I thought. I had my little cage all to myself, and my minions that came and fed me and took care of my needs. Harrumph… what else did I need, I thought?

Who are you? Are you the dog that lays half asleep, just looking up? Are you thinking “Nope, not going home with that one either. Not even gonna bother to get my hopes up.”

Are you the gruff, mean dog that says, “Don’t come near me or I’ll rip your face off!” Or what about one of the dogs that sleeps through the commotion? Did it take someone rattling on your cage to get you to even notice that there was something going on, another being in the room that wanted to rescue you? Did you even know that you needed to be rescued?

Well, it doesn’t really matter who you are. I can tell you, in all of my humanness, I cannot ever walk into a pet store or animal rescue league without genuinely wanting to take home every single last one of the animals there. I want to work there for free, just to care for the animals, and love them! My husband and I owned 12 cats in a 2-bedroom apartment once for that very reason… we wanted to rescue them all. Are we special? No… but we are incapable of feeling the love that Christ feels for us… so, if we as people can feel that much compassion for these animals, and truly desire to help them, HOW MUCH MORE DOES HE CARE FOR US! And He is more than capable. It doesn’t matter what you have been through, what kind of attitude you had or even what you look like. I have a special attraction to the ones that are the ugliest.

I think it’s the same way with Jesus. There is a special place in his heart for the ugly ones (spiritually ugly). Those of us that have not only been down and out but tossed around and kicked to the curb… even if it was by our own hand.

I imagine myself looking at the scruffiest, dirtiest dog in the place. He’s been abused, neglected and mal-nourished. He would be the hardest one to walk away from. Do you see where I am going with this?

The heart of Jesus breaks just like that for us. How much more when we back away from Him. But He’s patient. He’ll wait there with His hands out… just like we would put our hands out for Scruffy to smell. Sooner or later we each will learn to trust the one who’s come to help. But the sooner we do, the sooner we can be rescued, cleaned up and brought home.

Our Lord and Savior has come for us! It doesn’t matter what condition we are in… how broken our hearts may be… He can and will fix it… but we have to trust Him. In the same way that Scruffy has to trust someone enough to allow them to remove him from the cage he’s in, we have to trust God. Maybe Scruffy’s last owner would reach out his hand and swat him… so he is very leery in trusting the hand that now comes forward. But Praise God that He is a loving God… and we know that He comes to us with love! Yes, it may be scary just handing everything over to Him… but how much more frightening to resolve ourselves to sit in the cage of heartbreak that is around us!

There has never been an animal at the shelter that I thought was beyond my help, or that didn’t deserve my love. And again, who am I? I am made in His image, so I am secure in the knowledge that He loves us SO MUCH MORE!

Now, imagine this… I finally get Scruffy to allow me to pick him up to remove him from the cage… but he suddenly starts fighting me… squirming and growling and trying to jump down. Just the fact that he is fighting me is going to make him mistrust me more. But I know that I have to be patient, and just hold him, and allow him to get to the point where he realizes that I am not going to hurt him… but while he’s fighting me, he doesn’t even realize that I am protecting him, keeping him from falling, and trying to sooth him. He just knows that he is scared. But as soon as he stops resisting me, I will be able to give him everything to help him and love him. And if my heart is set on Scruffy, I will wait until he’s ready for me… but Jesus heart is set on each and every one of us… He’s waiting patiently.

Are you fighting God? Are you mistrusting Him, thinking that because it hurt so much before, it can’t possibly get any better?

Don’t you see! Jesus wants to rescue you! He wants to take you home, and feed you from His table. He wants to give you water from His spring of Life. He wants you to feel safe and secure and know that you will never ever have to feel as lost as you did when you were locked up in that cage of pain that was your life. Don’t doubt His love for us… He’s just outside the cage of sin and rebellion and heartbreak. Will you back away and growl?

Or will you jump into His waiting arms and lick His face?

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

In His Grace and For His Glory

Toi Soares 7/1/03