But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us (Romans 5:8).

My son showed me a video recently of an abandoned dog tied with a rope outside an animal shelter. It was an old dog, later identified as a sixteen-year-old mutt. Someone passing by saw the animal in distress, confused and afraid.

The passerby, a “man in a flannel shirt,” took a short video showing the dog’s near-death condition. It might be easy to look away—compassion without action.

Nevertheless, as an act of mercy, the man took the ragged animal home, hoping to make the dog’s final days a little less lonely. Additional video shows the unnamed owner talking kindly to the dog and petting it gently, carefully serving a portion of soft food as a last meal for the worn-out K-9.

This demonstration of affection wasn’t a reward. Fido didn’t “sit” on command or run to fetch a stick. The adoptive owner simply poured love upon the dog as he’d poured nourishment into a bowl.

Then, to the viewer’s surprise, the video ends with the newly groomed but dearly loved mutt acting like a pup again, running and jumping playfully, chasing its owner around the yard. Was this the same dog who’d been tied to a pole outside the animal shelter? Amazingly, it was.

As the man falls to the ground laughing, the once near-death dog, tail wagging wildly, nuzzles himself in the arms of “the man with the flannel shirt.”

Lost but now found. Abandoned but now rescued. Rejected but now treasured. No longer tied to a pole but tethered to love. The dog who’d been left to die had been loved back to life.

Loved back to life. Just like we are by Jesus.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for adopting me as your own, not because I was good but because of your grace and love. Renew my heart today with a greater understanding of the height, depth, width, and breadth of your love for me in Jesus.