Christian Living

DOGS DEMONSTRATE THE DIVINE

by GLENN PEASE
01/11/22
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 It is a fact of life that dogs often demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit more often and more consistently than their masters. Those fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Their are few Christians who would dare to be compared with their dog on these virtues, for they would come off looking quite shabby. The dog is almost god-like in its character, and that is why we can learn some important lessons about character from the study of dogs. Going to the dogs is usually a statement describing a negative downward spiral, but we are using it to represent a way to get on an upward spiral toward living on a higher and more godly level.

The Bible is not very friendly toward dogs, for the term dog was used mostly as a derogative term to describe the pagans that surrounded Israel. The dogs of the Bible are almost always the wild scavengers who eat the bodies of the dead that are not buried. They are like wolves that scout the countryside looking for prey, or for anything that might be thrown out from the city to be devoured. They were not pets, but basically living garbage disposal units by which the unwanted foods of people were disposed of. We read in Ex 22:31, "You shall be men consecrated to me; therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs.”

There is a reference to the sheep dog, however, in Job 30:1 “But now they make sport of me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.” Since shepherding was very common in the whole history of the Bible it is surprising that there are not more references to the positive side of the dog as the helper of man. The term dog was used so much to refer to the wild wolf like dogs and the terrible doom of being eaten by them that the positive view was pushed off the pages of holy writ. It was used as an insult. We, of course, still call someone a dirty dog in our culture to put them down.

In the Psalms and other books the enemies of the faithful are called dogs, and they are pictured like the wild dogs that come howling about the city in the evening. Some examples are: Ps 22:16 “Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet—“
Ps 59:6 “Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.”
Php 3:2 “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil-workers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.”
Re 22:15 “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.”

If is was not for one Gentile dog there would be almost no positive basis in the Bible for the study of the dog from a Christian perspective. One Gentile woman came to Jesus to seek his help for her daughter who was demon possessed. The whole story can be read in Matt. 15:21-28. When she asked for His help he responded with the typical Jewish attitude toward the Gentile dogs. He said in v. 26, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” She responded in v. 27, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Jesus was so impressed with her cleverness and faith that he healed her daughter, even though it was not on His agenda.

This one incident gives us a basis for our study. We are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and all Scripture is inspired and profitable, and so the study of the dog for lessons and wisdom in Christian living is valid because Jesus responded favorably to the wisdom of this woman in recognizing the rights of even the dog to be treated with respect for its needs. Did Jesus believe in animal rights? It would appear that he did, because he recognized the right of the dog to receive the scraps from the master’s table. But we definitely have the right to seek for truth in every aspect of what God has created, and He has given us the dog as a creature that demonstrates much of what He wants to see happen in His people. Lets look at some of the positive characteristics of the dog. There are many, but we will focus on those which are fruits of the Spirit.

You can't buy loyalty, they say,
I bought it though, the other day
You cant buy friendships, tried and true
Well just the same, I bought that too.
I made my bid and on spot
Brought love and faith and a whole job lot
Of happiness, so all in all
The purchase price was pretty small
I bought a single trusting heart,
that gave devotion from the start
If you think these things are
NOT FOR SALE
Buy a brown-eyed puppy with a wagging tail
Unknown

LOVE and JOY
To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs - Aldous Huxley
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful - Ann Landers
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself - Josh Billings

There are few creatures more loving than a dog. Every dog I have ever owned, and the current dog in my life, which is my grand dog Skittles, which belongs to my grandchildren, has been a source of love and joy. Skittles lives just a half a block away, and it is so cute as I see her in the yard and begin to walk toward her. She stares in anticipation that she might know it is me. When I get to the point where she knows it is me her tail begins to wag with enthusiasm. By the time I get to the corner of the yard she is wild with excitement and is straining at her chain to get away and run to me. When I get to her she is a wild mad ball of flying hair, wagging tail, and licking tongue saying I love you and am filled with joy in your presence. I can walk away from this excessive expression of joy, and come back 5 minutes later and get a repeat of the same grand greeting.

Show me another creature on this earth that can be so expressive of love and joy and I will repent of putting the dog in the first place as the most loving of animals. Even people passionately in love, though they can sometimes come close, can never match the rerun of passion you can get from a dog just moments after the first. I have never put Skittles to the test, but I have a hunch she would give me the same greeting ten times a day if I went to see her that often. I used to do it with my dog Cuddles. I would go out the back door and come around to the front door to see how she would greet me after we had just gone through an energetic “hello, I am so glad you are home that I am wild with joy” experience. It was as if I had been on a safari for a month and just gotten back. She would go through the whole excited greeting again, as if she had forgotten that she just welcomed me home two minutes ago. I cannot imagine any person or creature who can match the dog when it comes to delight in seeing you.

The Bible does encourage us to be dog like in our greeting of one another. It says that we are to greet one another with a holy kiss. Dogs are masters of this art, and are as excessive in the use of their tongue to say I love you as we are excessive in our restraining ourselves from expressing love with the kiss. In a high-tech world we are too often low-touch, but the dog is high-touch all the time. I am not trying to restore the age old custom of kissing in greeting, but just pointing out that we could learn from the dog how to greet one another with more enthusiasm. It makes people feel good when you are enthusiastic and delighted to see them. Dogs are saying by their greeting that you are loved and appreciated and add joy to their lives. That raises your self esteem when you are so appreciated. I thing that is what God expects us to do for one another. He wants us to greet one another with the holy kiss, and by that say to them that they are appreciated and add joy to your life just by being who they are. My dogs never distinguished between my good moods or bad moods, my degree of cleanliness or dirtiness, my economic situation, or any other category of life. They were always equally loving and joyful in welcoming me. We need to be more dog like, for that is really the same as being more God like. An unknown poet wrote,

A faithful dog will play with you
And laugh with you...or cry
He'll gladly starve to stay with you
And never reason why.
When you're feeling out of sorts,
Somehow he'll understand,
He'll watch you with his shining eyes
And try to lick your hand.
His blind, implicit faith in you
Is matched by his great love.
The kind that all of us should have
In the Master up above.
When everything is said and done,
I guess this isn't odd.
For when you spell "Dog" backwards,
You will get the name of God.