Are you wandering around like a mangy mutt?

Today I got the opportunity to visit my grandmother in my hometown of Trinity, North Carolina.  After my visit was over I dropped off some mail in the small post office in town and as I was about to get out of my car to enter the tiny building something shaggy and reddish brown caught my eye.  I looked for a second and what appeared to be Chewbacca’s 2^nd cousin was creeping towards me.  It was a mangy matted and dreadlocked stray dog.  I kept my eye on him trying to gauge whether he would be a friendly dog or some rabid beast that I should prepare to defend myself against.

I went into the post office and dropped off the letters I brought and when I came back to the parking lot the dog was still there.  As I got closer to the dog and knelt down I reached my hand out  prepared myself for a diseased bite but instead found myself petting an incredibly sweet and shy dog that just seemed to have lost it’s way.  I genuinely felt sad for this abandoned animal and I wish I could say that this story ended with me taking him home and rescuing him from the cold but I’m afraid my apartment zoo is at max capacity for animal life.

I stayed and nurtured the poor miserable dog for a few minutes and as I drove away I prayed that someone would come along and save the poor dog.  As I was driving I was reminded of Romans 7:24 where Paul says “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”  This related perfectly to this stray dog.  On first appearances this animal simply looked wretched to put it in a word and if no one shows up to redeem him, sadly, I fear this animal may end up dying.

This relates to us in that before we accepted Christ we were looked on by God as wretched human beings, stray and malnourished wandering helplessly on earth with no hope for redemption but the good news is that Christ died for just that reason and he has offered us redemption in the form of his sacrifice on the cross.   Has Jesus Christ rescued you from your hapless wandering as a stray?  Are you wandering around like a mangy mutt?

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