Abba, Father, I …

This is the final post ( for now )  on the love trail. See the previous ones:

• a born again christian has no right to hate or dislike another person.
• the type of love shown by a born again Christian must be agape
• a born again Christian cannot hate gays and other “sinners”
• How do you love your fellow Christians?

In today’s post, we shall show some love to our pets.

Americans love their pets. Very very much.

And that is why i saw it fit to put in a word or two on a Christian’s love for pets.

The Trend

Listen to this:

• Commonly heard: “I  am a pet parent“
• The Pet industry is a $45 billion business ( 2009 estimates according to APPA )
• People will continue to spend above and beyond on their pets as the population ages and pets take the place of children at home; however, pet parents will continue to focus their dollars on quality necessities, such as food, leashes, and bedding,..
• It is now common to purchase gifts and diamond jewelry for dogs.

In summary, pets now compete with children and other humans for love and affection. More and more modern girls consider dogs adorable and children “messy” and “demanding”.

More people are choosing to love dogs far more and above humans.

How i love my dog!

How much love should my dog get from me?

If you are not born again, i have no answer for you. I do not know.

In any case, that is not your problem. Your main concern should be, “how can i love the Lord God?”

But if you are born again, i will say this:  you are free to do as you wish. There are no laws against you loving your pets.  But consider what the scriptures says about dogs ( an by extension other pets).

Here are some. I  will try not to provide an interpretation of  the verses for you.

(i) There is indeed a dog “heaven“, but no saint goes there.

¹⁴“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. ( Revelation 22: 14,15 NIV)

That is, dogs stay outside the city, the new Jerusalem.

This news must be very depressing for those who love their dogs to death.

Some time back i was talking with my coworker, who happens to be gay, about loving the Lord. She told me point blank: “I will not love a God who wants me to give up the woman i love!”

I am sure there are those who will soon be saying “I will not love a God who who will not let me carry my dog into heaven ( the new Jerusalem)”

Well, if you must have your dog to heaven, dog heaven, the Lord will not stop you going there yourself.

(ii) It is not possible for a Christian to “love the Lord”, and see another human being in great need, but instead choose to meet the need of his/her dog first!

¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ( 1 John 3:17 NIV)

and

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. ( 1 Timothy 5:8 NIV)

In other words, the Lord puts no limits on how you spend your money. But how you spend your money gives you and other people a window into your soul.

It shows where your heart really is.

²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ( Matthew 6: 20, 21 NIV)

It’s me or the dog!

Bottom line:

If some evil person tried to drown your dog in a fast moving river, but he somehow also falls in the water and begins to drown. Who do you save?

If you choose to save the dog and not that evil person, you need to seek help afresh from the Lord.