Daily Devotions
God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Nowadays I am no longer surprised when a poll produces some surprising results.
For example, George Regents University asked 500 individuals this question: “A bus is speeding toward a dog and a human. Which one do you save?”
Most of the people asked that question did not come up with a simple answer. No, they asked a couple of questions of their own. The most important of those questions was “Who is the human and what is the dog?”
All of the respondents said, “If the human being is a brother, sister, grandparent, or close friend, and the pooch is an unknown mutt, I will save the human.” As I said, everyone agreed with that statement, but if the relationship with the people and the pooch changed, well, after that, the answers became pretty murky.
For example, if the dog was your dog and the person in question was a distant cousin or stranger, the chances of the dog being saved rose dramatically.
When given the choice between saving their own dog and a visiting tourist, 40 percent of those asked said they would save their dog. Amazingly, when women were asked that question, 46 percent of them elected to save Fido.
The study, which was designed to help measure American’s love for their pets, may have proved that fact, but it may also have shown how little we love our fellow human beings.
This is just one more major difference between the Triune God and His sinful children.
* You see, Scripture tells us that God would have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Nothing is said about Him wanting to save our goldfish or parrots.
* We are told that God so loved the world He gave His One-and-only Son. There is nothing mentioned about Jesus saving the animal kingdom.
Now that’s not because we humans are so good, cuddly, loyal, playful, friendly, and have a desire to please our Lord. In all of those areas any good dog and a few exceptional cats can whip us paws down. No, the Lord loved us and had a desire to save us when we were still crazed, hateful and nasty.
This is just another way of saying if we were in some animal shelter cage waiting for adoption beside some cats and dogs, most of them would be selected before us. In spite of who we are, that doesn’t change who God is. God loves us and set out to save us when we were pretty unlovable.
That’s the wonderful truth the apostle Paul was trying to convey to the church at Rome and to us, some 20 centuries later when he wrote: “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank You for loving us when we were unlovable, for sending Your Son to save us when we were unacceptable. In my Redeemer’s Name I give thanks. Amen.