When I was 16, I was mauled by a German shepherd guard dog. While I was an exchange student in Brazil. I came within an inch of losing my left eye. Now I was in my mid-20s, but the terror of that night hadn't faded. If you've ever looked down the throat of a dog that's trying to eat your face, you know what I mean.
I come home from the Air Force to visit my parents. My grandpa, who lived with my parents, brought her home from the animal shelter. Her name was Gretchen. She was part husky, part German Shepherd. She was as big as a buoy. I looked at Gretchen and trembled in fear.
After a few days, I got tired of being afraid. I put on coarse leather work gloves, a thick denim work jacket, and went out. I called, and Gretchen came. She growled. I trembled.
I got my courage up and went back to pet her. I moved too fast. She backed up and flashed her teeth, and on it went. It took a while, but about an hour later, Gretchen stood on her hind legs, put her front paws on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.
I smiled at her, and she smiled back. She was sweet and big
I had to take risks with Gretchen to overcome my fear and the abuse that I'd suffered from that guard dog. I had to take not one risk, but many risks. That day, fear came at me again and again. But there was something about Gretchen that just made me want to trust her.
In a few hours, fear of large dogs that had gripped me since I was 16 lost its hold on my life, just as I had to risk Gretchen's teeth to overcome my fear of German shepherds. We have to risk being hurt to receive Jesus love and the healing and restoration that flows only from from his life.
Many of us are like I was with Gretchen. People or circumstances have beat us up and we don't want to let anyone get too close. We're afraid we'll get hurt again. That same fear keeps us from really knowing Jesus or experiencing his love. The one thing that will heal us.
It takes courage to love. The whole point of this is it takes risk to overcome fear. Letting God love us is a risk. Loving others is a risk. It's not just one risk, but many, many risks. Faith is a lifestyle of taking risks. Faith works in and through love.
Paul wrote in Galatians 5:6, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love. The love of God compels us. It draws us, it creates desires in us to experience God's love, to know his love experientially and God's love compels us to love others.
We get filled to overflowing and can't wait to share God's love with the people in our lives. As we take the step of faith and believe in Jesus, he brings to life, he resurrects love in our lives.