For more than a decade we owned a pug-chihuahua named Odis. I did not like the dog. We only kept him because he belonged to one of our sons who was unable to take care of him. It was a very long decade, and there was no love lost between me and Odis when we finally homed him to an elderly couple who immediately fell in love with him.
My bad experience with Odis turned me off to dog ownership, and for another ten years or longer I was quite happy to not have a dog in the house. Then, about a year ago, we brought Frenchie into our home. I absolutely love the little Bichon. I never realized how much comfort and pleasure and companionship I could receive from a dog.
This morning, as I’m slowly recovering from COVID, I raised up on an elbow and looked at Frenchie laying quietly on the carpet beneath the bed. He was staring at me from behind coal-black eyes. He knows something is wrong, so he just lays there, watching.
When I rested my head on the pillow, regret settled over me. I regretted the many, many years I wasted not having had a dog to love and who loved me – all because of a bad experience I had with Odis. I regretted the wasted years during which I could have enjoyed such fulfilling companionship – years which I can now never recover.
The analogy I am about to make is certainly not perfect, but it will be close enough to make sense to some. How many live right now in the midst of their own wasted years, wanting nothing to do with Jesus because of a bad experience they’ve had with the church, or with people who called themselves Christians? How many are quite happy to be without Jesus?
I suspect a lot of people.
Oh! But for those who will eventually find the real Jesus of the Bible – the One who loves them and whom they can love, the One who radiates compassion, the One who offers complete forgiveness for the penitent, the One WITH whom they can find true and lasting peace of heart – when they find the real Jesus and bring Him into their lives – yes, they will regret all the wasted years they’d kept Him away.
I thank God He brought Frenchie into my life. If He had not, I would to this day never know what it is like to love a dog, and to receive the love of a dog. But, oh! What thanks can I offer to Jesus, lover of my soul, who loved me to His own death even while I did all I could do to avoid Him? If I had kept Him away, I would never have known what it is like to love Him and to BE loved by Him.
Are you keeping Jesus away because of bad experiences with a church, or pastor, or a family member who presented to you a false image of the lover of your soul? While no one can ever recover lost years, no one needs to PROLONG those years. I hope you will invite Jesus into your life right now. Just ask Him to do that.
I assure you that He will then guide you to the next steps for a more complete and meaningful relationship with the great lover of your soul.
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