Fighting Dog

In 2007, police raided the home of former-NFL quarterback Michael Vick and rescued 51 pit bulls that Vick and company had trained to be fighting dogs.

All of these dogs had grown up learning to fight for their lives. Vick and others would throw two dogs into a ring, surrounded by a crowd of people cheering on the dog they bet money on. If either dog didn’t fight back against the other, it would die.

A screenshot of Jonny posing with stuffed animals from dogster.com

Animal agencies worked with the 51 rescued pit bulls to help rehabilitate them. They were able to help many to the point that they were actually able to become pets in people’s homes.

Some of the dogs, like one named Jonny, responded to rehabilitation exceptionally well.

Jonny, who knew no affection growing up and was forced to be vicious and violent, has a new purpose in life. He is a certified therapy dog. He comforts children who are terminally ill.

Jonny’s change is remarkable. But we have a tendency to think people can’t change in the way that Jonny did.

In the Bible, there’s a story about a man Jesus met who seemed like he had way too much going against him to ever change and be a productive member of society:

·    he was possessed by demons. This may seem strange, but demon possession in Jesus’s day was common. People often tried to channel spiritual powers through sorcery to try and hurt others only to have it backfire on themselves.

·    he lived in a tomb among dead bodies. This shows us how desperate he was. There was no asylum in this village that could contain him. He had to find his own shelter. We have all been in desperate places in life, but this is especially heartbreaking.

·    he cut himself with stones. He had no control over his own body. His demons controlled him. Many of us can relate to the feeling that some outside force has control of our lives and is forcing us to do things that are detrimental to our well being.

·       he ran around naked. This was not just an embarrassment for him, but a danger to the people of community he lived in. Kids would have seen him naked and also would have noticed the marks of the self-mutilation.

·      he attacked other people. Our problems never affect just us. When we lose control, other people suffer too. Our behavior has a ripple effect. This man had been attacking people and becoming so “increasingly violent” that people had to start avoiding the path near the tombs.

·       he escaped confinement by breaking the chains on his wrists and running away. We have all been at a place in life where we don’t want to accept the help of other people. The man didn’t respond well to the village’s community arrest. He wasn’t at a place in life where he could reason with other people about his behavior. He ran from people who were trying to help.

Jesus’s boat came to shore near the tombs one day. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, the man found him.

It was actually the demons inside of him that drove the man to Jesus. Sometimes it’s our “demons” or sins that drive us to a deeper relationship with God.

Jesus sent the demons out of the man and into a herd of pigs. The pigs lost control and the whole herd ran off a cliff into the water. Each of them drowned. 

You can read the man’s story in Mark 5:1-20.

Jesus can change your life, too. Here’s what happened with the man in the story that helped shape a new life for him:

·     An encounter with Jesus. Maybe Jesus has found you and that’s great. But if you’re having a dry spell in your spiritual life, go find Jesus. Remember that Jesus didn’t approach the demon-possessed man. The man found Jesus.
Go create an encounter with Jesus. Find him by reading Scripture. Find him through other people who know him. Find him through a chaplain, a book, a friend, through prayer, through living out His teachings, through helping other people. Whatever you do—don’t stop looking for Jesus until you know you have found Him.

·     A new purpose. No one truly devotes their life to Jesus and keeps doing the exact same thing they were doing. Jesus flips people's lives upside down.

That’s how it was for the man in the story. He found a new purpose because of his encounter with Jesus. In fact, he became one of Jesus's first missionaries to a foreign are. He went into regions where Jesus hadn’t been yet, but would later go, and enthusiastically told people about what Jesus had done in his life—the demons, the pigs, everything. His new purpose was to tell people about Jesus. When we follow Jesus, we find our purpose in Him.