Lessons from Peaches
Romans 3:11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS; THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS AFTER GOD.
Luke 19:10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
John 12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."
Luke 14:23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Introduction
I have a daughter whose family has finally decided that their children needed a dog. They bought a little dog that has gotten big. The dog is friendly. Now when I say friendly, I mean all-over-you type of friendly. If a person didn’t like dogs, that would just be too bad because this dog will not leave a person alone once she decides to be your friend. Ultimately, you will have to be licked and she will have to be petted. This dog will not take no for an answer and she doesn’t do rejection.
Application to Us
I wonder how many friendships never develop in our lives because we often write people off that we think have offended us or who have neglected us. I will have to admit, I don’t have the endurance of this dog, Peaches. Many times I have told that dog to get lost and she only got more energetic in her attempt to be my friend. You would think that it would know that while I like dogs, I don’t really love them. But no matter how much I try to avoid, Peaches, Peaches will not allow me to avoid her. And usually I end up playing with her and petting her. And I have even gotten somewhat attached to her. But the effort in this relationship was all Peaches. I did nothing to encourage her early on.
Many times as I look back over life, I think of friendships that I should have pursued but didn’t. Either I didn’t have time or I didn’t really like the person, or I thought that in some way they had avoided or mistreated me. So I withdrew when I probably should have pursued. I should have had a Peaches as my role model.
I think the Lord is a lot Like Peaches—even though He certainly is not a Dog!
The Bible says that there is NONE that seeks after God. But if we look at the message of the Bible in context, the Lord keeps seeking us. He seeks the lost and we are all lost by nature. That means that we can’t find our way and that we are perishing. God uses the crucifixion to try to win the lost. Is there any one in our country has not heard of that dark day when men crucified a man who had been found innocent in their courts. But of course men believed in capital punishment and as a result they took the physical life of the Son of God. That event has caused people to stop and think over the years. We have to ask, was this a miscarriage of justice? If it was, have the hearts and minds of men and women become any more civilized over the years? If this kind of prejudice and envy is still the way we are today, is there anything that can change that? And the answer comes back, YES! There is something that can change that. Christ died for our sins so that when we trust Him our whole life and attitudes can be changed into Christ-like lives and attitudes. The cross is one way that the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to woo us so that we can be different from those who crucified the Lord. The Lord wants us to partake of a feast, not of a famine. As a result when people turn away from Him, He finds others and COMPELS them to come to the feast. My Lord is a peach of a Peaches.
Can the Lord be Rejected?
Of course the Lord can be rejected. I am confident that if I started beating and yelling at Peaches that ultimately she would slink away with her tail between her legs. She might even turn and bark and bite. But that is not her nature or her desire. The same is true of the Lord. He wants to be our friend. He woos us. He compels us. But ultimately, if we keep rejecting Him, He will reject us. And then the picture gets really ugly. A mad dog will bite. An angry God will obtain vengeance on those who reject His Son. And that vengeance will be justified. God has proven His love for His Son, and has proven His love for the world by allowing His Son to take the punishment that we deserve because of our sin, He will be righteously angry when that love is rejected. Eternity is involved in that anger. John 3:18 says, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 5:24 says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
Writing People Off
I am going to try to be more careful when it comes to “writing people off” that could be my friends. We all need all the friends we can get. But I am glad I do have a friend in the Lord. He didn’t “write me off” and ultimately I did not dismiss Him. He could have dismissed me or written me off on many occasions, but He didn’t and for that I am thankful today. I hope nobody reading this has dismissed Him. If you have, I suspect that He like Peaches is even today trying to get your attention.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of January 17, 2016