Dog training

Nearly ten years ago, I adopted a spunky yellow lab puppy and named him Forte. Basic obedience training required hard work from both of us. Even now, Forte finds “come” and “heel” hard commands to obey. He thinks he’s the leader and pulls to walk ten steps ahead of me. He does not always stop what he’s doing when I call. The problem is, if Forte can’t obey “heel” and “come”, he can’t experience the joy and freedom of being off-leash. He isn’t safe. When he’s focused on chasing a squirrel, he might run into the road and get hit by a car.

Who is the leader?

I’m afraid I act the same way when it comes to following Jesus. I rush ahead and hope that Jesus can keep up with me. I suspect that, much like Forte’s ability to be off leash, our freedom in Christ comes from sticking close to his side, with Jesus doing the leading.

We don’t have dog walking metaphors in the Bible, but there are plenty of sheep illustrations. Psalm 23 states, “The Lord is my shepherd…” If we are his sheep, we need to pay attention to our shepherd, just like my dog needs to pay attention to me.

The good shepherd

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:14 NIV) How can we know the unseen shepherd? In the same way we get to know anybody: by spending time with them while observing how they act and what they say. We can ask other reliable people who know him, or read what they say about him.

We have Jesus, the Bible, 2000 + years of other people’s reports about him, and stubborn dogs to help us see ourselves and know our shepherd. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)

Note: This post first appeared on my former website, Cardinal-Sound. It has been updated and revised.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.