When I was a boy, I remeer seeing a picture of a very fine and intelligent looking collie dog like the one in our picture, and a chubby, happy little girl. The dog sat looking at the little girl with a tender and kind expression, and she was looking up at him with such a pleasant smile while her little lips were open as though she might be talking to her doggie friend. Underneath the picture were these words, “Can’t you talk?”
I quite imagine the little lady had been talking away to her friend the dog, but never received an answer. Of course you know why! Dogs can growl, and whine and bark, but they just can’t talk, and they never will. They were born dog, with a dog nature, and that is all there is to it.
Now I sometimes think of this when we try to speak to folks about the Lord Jesus. We can speak about games, the weather, or school, and oh, what a chatter there is. But somehow when we begin to speak about the Lord Jesus, the Bible, and heaven, they can’t seem to talk any more. Why is that?
You and I were born lost! We were born children of fallen parents, and we need to be born again. If you read the third chapter of John’s gospel you will see that the Lord Jesus said to a very religious man named Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” I didn’t want to talk to anyone about the Lord Jesus either, until I was born again. When the Lord Jesus saved me, and washed away my sins, I found that I wanted the company of those who had also trusted my Saviour, and together we talk about His love. What do you do when someone comes along to talk about Jesus? Can’t you talk?
“Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it...
ML 01/29/1956