9 Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest! 10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. 11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain. 12 “Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.” Isaiah 56:9-12 (NIV)
In this portion of Scripture we read about dogs that:
(1) Don’t know anything.
(2) Lost their voice so they are no able to warn others.
(3) They like to sleep.
(4) They are dreamers.
(5) They have no real knowledge of God.
So what does a dog have to do with you?
Growing up I had a German shepherd and we brought a trainer in to help us with him. I loved to watch her train him. I began to notice that every time he did something good she gave him a treat. When she would leave and we tried to get him to obey it never worked. I believe it’s because we didn’t give him the treat that the trainer did. A dog is motivated to do good things to receive approval from others or because some reward is given. Let’s compare a sheepdog and a shepherd.
A sheepdog will protect the sheep on the basis of a reward or approval from the shepherd. While a shepherd on the other hand will take care of and protects the sheep on the basis that he really cares about them. The shepherd invests a lot of energy and effort into raising the sheep and tending to their every need.
What’s your motivation to care about others? Is it for your own selfish gain or because you actually care about those around you?
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