This is Brodie. The doggie I didn’t want.

Several years ago after losing our beloved Golden Retriever Sadie I was not looking for another doggie. Our daughter, who had just fallen in love with her new Chiweenie puppy, thought it would be a great idea to rescue another small doggie to keep her little puppy company. Yes, that is a great idea, but I didn’t want another doggie.

We got the call that she had found the perfect companion for her Chiweenie, Baylee. Needing to run a quick errand, I handed the phone to my husband declaring as I headed out the door, “We’re not getting another dog!” When I returned seeing my husband’s face I knew and so I asked, “We have a dog don’t we?” My husband’s soft smile and eyes told me that yes indeed we would be meeting the newest member of our doggie tribe, a little male Chihuahua in just a few short hours.

I tried not to like him. I tried to keep my heart from wanting him. But I could not. His love for me was very evident and I began to like that he wanted to be with me. I began to like that when I left the room, he followed me. I began to like that when I sat down, he wanted no other lap to cuddle but mine. I began to like that he was always the first one at the door when we came home and that when we walked through the door it was me he wanted. I began to like that he wanted me to scratch his head and his tummy. I began to like that he wanted to walk with me every morning as he danced with excitement when he knew we were just about to go on a W.A.L.K. (I have to spell it rather than say it because he knows what it means when I say “Do you want to go on a walk?”) I began to like that he just wanted me! Now when I hold and hug him, I look him in the eyes and tell him: “I can’t believe I didn’t want you, because I love you so much!”

The Good is Not Brodie

Had my “I don’t want a doggie” speech been taken seriously, I would not have experienced his sweet doggie love for me. As much as I didn’t want him he brings so much love and joy to my life. But the good is not him. The Good is Jesus.

There is so much more for me than the sweet doggie love from Brodie! There is so much more for each of us with the sweet love of Jesus. Jesus’ love for me has been evident as he has pursued me, drawing me to Him, showing me that He wants to be with me. I know it sounds strange to say that Jesus pursued me, but he pursues all of us and the way he kept drawing me to him was through my Grandma Ruth. She loved him and she wanted her grandkids to know him. She was fortunate to travel to the Holy Land in Israel several times and each time she went she brought her grandkids a treasure. One year she brought us back an olive wood Bible with the words spoken by Jesus in red.

Jesus drew me to him through reading that Bible as it sat in our family room. What I learned as I began to seek Him, was that He wanted me and that I belonged to him. Before long, Jesus wouldn’t just be with me in the family room, as I learned that I could invite him into my heart and when I did he would be with me all the time. He would never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).

Had I not called on the name of the Lord and believed in Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was 20 years old, I would not know His unconditional love. I would not know how forever wanted I am and that he is with me as I go through all of the hard of life. I would not be experiencing the life changing gift of having a personal relationship with Him now and for all eternity!  I would not know His peace as I battle with my selfish wants and desires as He grows me up in Him. I would not know that I am His masterpiece, chosen, set free, dearly loved and that nothing will ever separate me from His love (Romans 8:38-39). I would not know that He is with me always. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We have done nothing to deserve God’s grace through our faith in Jesus. And…“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

As Nerida Walker writes in her book It Is Finished: 

“God loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus to come and take away the sin of the world (including yours) so that you can receive forgiveness, have a relationship with Him and experience eternal life. Without receiving Jesus, we can’t experience that relationship with God.”

Nerida Walker, It Is Finished

Does Your Heart Want Him?

For some of us we try really hard to not like Him or need Him and we won’t let our hearts want Him, because we aren’t convinced we need a Savior because we don’t recognize our sin. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). That doesn’t mean just some of us, that means ALL of us and without Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection we live and die with no hope or eternity.

And without faith and belief in Jesus we miss that the good is Him. We miss the good of forgiveness for all our sins, past, present and future. We miss the good that we can have a relationship with Him and we miss the good that believing in Him gives us eternal life.

Good Friday is Him

We see just how much we are loved on Good Friday as we look to God’s plan to redeem and save us through Jesus’ death on the cross. He suffered on the cross in our place by becoming sin so that we can be in a right relationship with God (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

“By his wounds, [we] are healed.”

1 Peter 2:24

Easter is Him

We see how much we are loved on Easter Sunday as we celebrate the empty tomb. Jesus’ victory over death. Our hope for eternal life (1 Peter 1:3). The Good is Him; “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

There is more joy in Jesus than anything this world has to offer. “If you seek me you will find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

We are the “whosoevers” that Jesus died for. My prayer is that you believe in Jesus and what He did on this Good Friday for all the “whosoevers” and that you receive His free gift of grace, mercy and steadfast love as I did.

If you want to receive Jesus into your heart, you can pray this prayer:

Lord, Jesus, I believe on this Good Friday that you died on the cross for me. I understand that by you dying on the cross, shedding your blood, you made a way for me to have relationship with God the Father and that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of you God, which includes me.

I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you died for me and that my belief and faith in you Jesus, makes a way for me to have eternal life. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice for my sin and that you loved me and all the whosoevers so much that you died for us so that we could have relationship with God forever. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, this is such a GOOD DAY!!! Please jot it down in your phone or somewhere and please tell someone. A trusted friend or believer you know. You can email me or message me on social media if you want to share with me the good news! My prayer is that you sense and feel His love, peace, and comfort as you begin this new relationship with Jesus.

Just like in any relationship you need to take time to get to know each other, so take this time to know the One who knows everything about you as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John is a great place to start!

Happy Easter!

Jackie