In our home here in Nicaragua there is a guard dog and a pet dog. The guard dog’s name is Blackie and he stays tied up all day, every day. The pet’s dog is named Casey and he is free to run around wherever he pleases.
Blackie is smacked with a stick if he barks when there is no intruder and his job is to keep the family and their possessions safe. Casey’s job is run around the house, receive loving pats and hugs, and eat our food. Blackie knows why he is there and he knows his job, and Casey knows the freedom that he has and lives accordingly.
As I sat back and watched as Blackie sat in the corner on the outside of the house and whimpered, the Lord told me something that I so desperately need to be reminded of every day.
“You are not a guard dog.”
How easy it is to live with the mindset of God as the master and not as my Father. How easy it is to believe that the only reason He wants me is so I can do more for Him. How incredibly, realistically easy it is to live in the fear of being whipped when I do something wrong. How many times have I lived leaned up against the wall in fear that the only life I can live is one where the more I do, the more God is pleased with me. The quieter I am and the more I stay out of His way… the better off I am.
He yells His commands and when I don’t obey… I’m in trouble or I’ve made Him mad. When I sit back and watch as the “Casey’s” of the house run around and live in freedom… I question their love for the Lord because they aren’t obeying the rules like I am. How many times in my life have I played the role of the guard dog who wouldn’t dare approach his master or even think about jumping in His lap.
I am not the guard dog. You are not the guard dog.
Jesus was.
Once a Casey, once a Son chose to become the guard dog so that we didn’t have to. Chose to be separated from God, chose to take the punishments, and chose to live in fear of wrath. He chose to sit back and watch in chains on the outside as we pranced around the house of God, biting through furniture and scratching the floors along the way.
The will of God is not that you would follow His every command, the will of God is not that you would live chained in fear, the will of God is that you would be adopted into sonship/daugtership. The will of God is that you would prance and dance around His house and jump in His lap. The will of God is that you would experience freedom, and that could only be done and we could only be safe if someone else took on the role of the guard dog. The will of God is that you would invite others into this love and freedom.
You are not a guard dog and it would be shame for you to live that way when you don’t have to. You will experience this love as a daughter or son when you let freedom take hold of your heart. When you learn that when you scratch the floor as you run, you won’t get beaten. But this is where grace takes it to a whole new level… you wont get beaten because God already did. Sure, He is a good Father and we should never take advantage of the grace we have received, but He laid down His own life so that you would receive no punishments.
The guard dog does.
I’ll never understand it. It doesn’t seem fair because it isn’t. If Casey ran around the house and then peed on the floor, it is unjust and unfair that Blackie would get beaten for it, but that is exactly what God did so that WE might live in freedom. So that WE would be able to come to him as sons and daughters. It sounds unfair because its just that… but in letting our hearts recognize what God did… we don’t want to take advantage of that grace. We don’t want to scratch His floors or break His heart. We don’t live in fear of Him, we live in the fullness of love from Him and the way we love Him in return leads us to respect and admire Him for who He is and all He has done. Grace isn’t fair for Him, but He considers it worth it if that means you will live in the freedom as His son or daughter.
I don’t know why He wants us as His children so badly, I don’t know why He isn’t like every other god that demands in order to be blessed. I don’t understand this kind of love or grace, but I am thankful for it. I am thankful that in moments when I am weak, He speaks into my heart telling me He is my strength. I am thankful that in moments where I mess up, He tells me He loves me still and calls me yet again. And I am thankful that in moments when I feel as if I need to do more for Him to be close to Him, He speaks into my heart…
“You are not the guard dog.”
