Monday, August 29, 2011
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Okay, I wasn't expecting a goat to be my teacher. But something kind of special happened. A good friend of ours helped a new baby goat come into the world. You might say he was "kidding" around. But you shouldn't say that.
Right after this little wobbly thing arrived; his mother ran off and abandoned him. (Which unfortunately is a sad picture of what happens to some human children.) Well, anyway, that's when Sandy, the Great Pyrenees guard dog, came to the rescue. Our friend tried to remedy this heartbreaking situation by leaving the baby in a grassy area, near where the little guy had arrived. Nope! No deal. Then, Sandy went over to the newborn and the dog started licking off the little goat's birth residue.
The barnyard drama culminated as Sandy, who now was carrying that little guy's scent, gently nudged the mother over to her baby. And they ended up walking over there together, and mama goat got the point. Her mom instinct finally kicked in; she started licking her kid. Now, in the animal kingdom, when you give your kid a licking, I guess that's a nice thing.
That's the time my grandson weighed in. When he heard about this, and he heard about how the guard dog had lovingly intervened, his instinctive response was, "Well, that's just like Jesus!" I had two reactions. First, "Wow, he's right." Second, "Why didn't I think of that?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Two Goats and Good Friday."
Our grandson explained that he saw that the baby was us, the mother was God and the dog who came to the rescue represented Jesus. Okay, now that does need a little theological tweaking, because it wasn't God who walked away from me. It was me who walked away from God. Or as the Bible says, "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own" (Isaiah 53:6 - NLB). In a word, that's sin. Fact is, God and I were hopelessly apart. Away from our Father's love, we just wander all alone and clueless.
Then Jesus came. And here's what the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God. It's found in 1 Timothy 2:5. It says, "There is only one God and there is one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave His life to purchase freedom for everyone." One person who can bring God—a holy, perfect, sinless God—together with a guy like me, who has broken God's laws, run my life my way, and tried to act like I was my own god; only one person who could do that, and that's the person who died to bring us together. That is Jesus; one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity.
So, from a barnyard birth drama—from a dog and a couple of goats—yeah, I got a glimpse of Good Friday. Jesus is hanging on that cruel cross, and I can almost see Him with one nail-pierced hand in God's hand and the other hand reaching for me to bring us together.
You know, when He was reaching for God, He was reaching for you too. It was your sin He was paying for you too. And this very day He's nudging you, pushing you in the direction of the God you were made by and the God you were made for. There's nobody else who can get you to Him, because nobody else died to pay for the sin that separates you from Him.
And this day I believe your heart is restless for the God who made you. You have a loneliness that's a cosmic loneliness. You're lonely for God. You ready for that relationship you were made for? Well, tell Him that, "Jesus, I have sinned. I have broken Your laws. I have wandered away. I want to come to You in total faith, believing that when You died You died for me, and that You are alive because You walked out of Your grave. You are my Savior from this day on."
Our website is really there to be there for you at a time like this of beginning with Jesus. A lot of good information there that will help you get started with Him. YoursForLife.net. I hope you'll check it out.
Yeah, you're being nudged in the direction of the God who made you today, so you can experience the love that your life depends on.