Victory of the Eternal

February 10

The Mean Dog

I encountered a mean, barking dog. He had the look that said, “If I live long enough, sooner or later, I'm going to bite you!”

As is my habit, I tried to entice the dog to let me pet him, to which he of course, wanted no part, and became even more vicious. As I came close enough to see his teeth, I snatched him off his feet, and wrapped my arms completely around him, thus disabling his means of attack.

As I examined him, he had this look of distress, almost desperation in his eyes, and it was then I noticed, the huge thorn he had in his front paw. I decided I must remove the thorn at once....I put him down, and imagine my surprise to find he wasn't near the snarling, mean dog I had imagined....He now was a dancing, prancing, full of love puppy-dog, who seemingly had no care in the world.

Thus is the sin in our lives. It becomes a thorn is our paws, which if allowed to, consumes our very being, and eventually, we become barking dogs. Christ says He can remove the sin, if we allow it. Many times we fight the cause, many times we fight the solution, but when it's finally removed, how sweet it is to know His grace.—Rick Dellinger


Pain brings out the worst in us. We react badly when words cause us to become upset and we behave abysmally when we are physically hurt. It is the rare individual who allows grace to overtake the natural proclivity to reel when in a flood of misery.

But this is not God’s way. He would have us to emulate Christ when we are undone by circumstances that cause our hurt. We have the example of the Lord Himself who said when He had been brutalized, mocked, and hung on a cross, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they do,” Luke 23:34.

As the people who crucified Him didn’t grasp the reality of who He was or what His mission among them was, neither do those who torment His people today understand the impact of their actions upon their own eternal well-being.

It may not surprise us that scoffers would demean and assail us. It may not seem out of character for unbelievers to inflict pain upon those who love Jesus simply because they are of the same mindset as those who dragged Him before Pilate and demanded His death, John 19:6.

They cannot grasp the truth that when they lash out against us they are really assailing the Holy One who bore their sin. So if we suffer as He suffered—without retaliation—we show them afresh the power of the One who had only to call upon His Father who would sent twelve legions of angels to set Him free, Matthew 26:53.

Because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, we, too may call upon the Father to deliver us from pain and all adversity. But it behooves us to allow the eternal plan to run its course, to fulfill its purpose, so He can bring it again to the glorious victory of the eternal over the temporal.