Читать книгу Paws to Reflect for Dog Lovers - Kim McLean - Страница 12

See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by his faith.

—Habakkuk 2:4 NIV

When one of our dogs gets a “that-a-boy” or a “good-girl,” they prance around the yard, step a little higher, noses in the air. They have doggie pride. It’s the pride of love and self-giving—a serving heart. That kind of pride reminds me of the scripture verse above from Habakkuk. When your dog fetches a Frisbee, or comes when you call, or does his business outside instead of on the carpet in the back bedroom, he is pleased to please you, as though he didn’t even know he could be so good. He’s been good, “upright,” you might say, because you’ve guided him, not because he knew how to please you on his own. He would have been perfectly happy to poop on the carpet, until you taught him to do otherwise. He has faith in your guidance. He has faith in you because he loves you. He doesn’t know that he owes you. So, his righteousness is in being rightly related to his keeper—you.

We can learn from those “good dogs.” On a profound level they can teach us something about a servant’s heart, about pure motives and actions that are filled with gratitude. Love need not be mingled with self-centered pride. Real love is infused with faith. Your dog has a love-infused faith in you. And you, a love-infused faith in God. Our right relationship with God empowers us to love others with God’s love, and all that right-relatedness is what righteousness is all about.

The miracle of God’s love is made clear through the gift of Jesus. In love, he emptied himself in the ultimate sacrifice of self (Philippians 2:5-11).

Today, I will have faith in God to put pure, righteous love in my heart.—k.m.