Our dog, Foxy, came to us a few months before her fifth birthday, still healing from being spayed, and scared to death. She had been living with a family who had not treated her kindly, to say the least. They had used a shock collar because as most beagles do, she was a barker and a howler. She joined our family with no voice. It’s very weird to have a dog that does not bark, ever.
Foxy lived with us for 6 months before we saw her smile. I remember it well. We were eating dinner as a family. Foxy was in the living room, begging from afar. I was trying not to look at her because she wasn’t going to get anything and it just made me feel bad to see her begging face. But something caught my eye and I looked directly at her. She was smiling, grinning from oversized droopy ear to oversized droopy ear. I started yelling, “Foxy’s smiling! Foxy’s smiling!”
Years went by and still no voice. Until one day when I was home with her. She was in the backyard and I was in the kitchen. I heard one short bark. I went running to the window and there on our fence stood a cat. Foxy was jumping about like a dog who has seen a cat on her fence, but no more barking. That one small bark was all that she dared to speak.
What breaks my heart most for Foxy is that she is free to use her voice. In fact, we want her to bark and howl, we welcome it. But she has been conditioned to keep quiet. And this reminds me of us and sin.
We are born in sin and the bondage that accompanies it. We are, as Paul puts it, “slaves to sin.” Once we accept Jesus as our Savior the chains of sin fall off. We are set free. Yet, like Foxy, so many of us act like we are still in bondage. We live defeated. We are broken.
Jesus came to set us free! He came to redeem us! He removes the chains of sin! Do you live like Foxy? Or do you know who you are in Christ?
You were chosen!
You are adopted!
You are forgiven!
You are FREE!
