Last month was not a good one for my dog, Blitzen. First, I came home one day to find that he had chewed up my husband’s new pairs of safety glasses which he had purchased for work. I found pieces of them scattered throughout the house. Of course, I was unhappy, and I let him know with a firm, “No!”  Within a few days of that, he had destroyed a wooden toy that he had found on the ground and later I found evidence that he’d been about to start in on one of my shoes!

Now Blitzen is a rescue dog, and my husband, Estith, and I have discovered that he is extremely sensitive. In fact, after the toy and shoe incidents, I didn’t feel the need to reprimand him at all, for it seemed he had already reprimanded himself. I would come home and find him laying submissively on the ground, looking at me with pitiful eyes, as if to say, “I know I was bad. I know! I’m so sorry.”

After that, there were no more problems with chewing. And yet, when I arrived home, I would find Blitzen creeping around delicately, looking guilty, even if he hadn’t done anything at all. More time went by, and rather than running to greet me at the door, Blitzen would stay in his bed and only come out if I called him. Then last night my husband happened to be home when my car pulled up to the house, and when I came inside he told me, “We have a problem.”

Blitzen had been trembling in fear as soon as he heard my car and had immediately started looking for a place to hide. Of course, when I heard about this, I felt terrible. I love Blitzen very much (I even affectionately refer to him as my fur-baby) and it pained me to think of him dreading my homecoming, living in fear that I was coming home to do nothing more than reprimand him.

So I sat down on the floor and right then and there I began to pet Blitzen. I stroked his ears and back and played with him. I did everything I could to let him know that I was happy to see him, not angry or upset. Estith and I both agreed that from now on when I get home, I will need to continue this routine. If he doesn’t come to see me, I need to call him and play with him right away and even give him a treat so that he begins to associate positive things with me coming home.

As I reflected on these events, I couldn’t help but think of Christmas. There are many people who live in fear of God. And I’m not talking about godly fear which refers to a proper love and respect for who God is. I’m talking about those who live under a burden of guilt, afraid to draw near to God because they think that all He’s out to do is punish them for their failings.

To anyone living under that burden, I want you to know that nothing could be further from the truth. God is a loving father who more than anything desires to have our love in return. Of course, God hates sin, but He does not get pleasure from punishing sinners. In fact, God’s antidote to sin is not more punishment, but rather drawing us into a deeper relationship with Him.

And so we come to Christmas where God’s plan to draw us into a deeper relationship with himself was accomplished through the gift of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world and when He did, it was as though God got down on our level and said, “See how much I love you? I’m not sitting up in heaven waiting for you to screw up. Instead, I’m longing to be with you. I’m longing for you to love me. I’m longing for you to be as excited about me as I am about you.”

John 3:17 puts it this way: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”

I long for the day when Blitzen will no longer be afraid to run to me with his tail wagging, eager to see me. For the day when he understands who I am again. Not an angry woman looking to punish him, but his loving mother eager to just be with him. Christmas reminds me that God longs for no less from each of us. Won’t you run to Him?