Check the Bloodline

Sitting here this evening watching the deer on my hillside and listening to the creek and watching the wind move the trees reminded me of one of the stranger lessons God ever taught me through a dog.

Now if you’ve ever owned a good dog, you know they become more than a dog. They become part hunting partner, exercise partner, part therapist, and part unpaid marriage counselor.

My old dog Tyge was the real deal to me. That dog just fit me, hot nosed, cooperative dog, and enough sense to know exactly when I was carrying jerky in my vest pocket. He was a brindle Mountain Cur built well and hunted like he had rent due.

So naturally I got to thinking: “We probably need more of these in the world.” That’s usually how trouble starts for men. Right after the words: “You know what we oughta do…”

So I had a buddy up in Kentucky with a fine brindle female cur dog, and we decided we were about to produce the next generation of squirrel dog royalty.

I mean on paper this cross looked flawless. Tyge was brindled. The female was brindled.

Both hunted hard. Both looked sharp.

This litter should’ve come out looking like the canine version of royalty. Like if a professional athlete married a supermodel.

We were expecting magazine cover pups. The kind of dogs folks would line up for carrying cash and stories about “the best dog I ever had.”

So we met up, let nature take its course, and before long we got the news: “She took.”

Now we just waited. A couple of months later the phone rang. “There’s five pups…” I’m already smiling.

Then he said: “But we got a problem.”

That’s never a good sentence. Nothing good has ever followed:

“But we got a problem.” He said: “Most of these pups are white.”

White. Now I am not a racist first off. But if you know Mountain Curs, that ain’t exactly what you’re aiming for. A little white is one thing, but there was more white there than an episode of Frasier. These things looked less like squirrel dogs and more like somebody crossed a cur dog with a Holstein calf.

An old timer once said: “If the dog looks like he’s headed to tree a squirrel, he’s probably fine. If he looks like a Holstein cow, you may have paperwork problems.”

Well…we had paperwork problems. So I started digging through bloodlines and pedigree papers trying to figure out what happened. Sure enough, somewhere back in Tyge’s line there was apparently a dog famous for throwing white pups.

I told my buddy: “There must’ve been a walker hound or a fiest sneaking around the family tree somewhere.”

Now those pups could still hunt. Could still tree squirrels. Could still serve a purpose. But they weren’t what they appeared they’d couldn't be registered based on what came out.

And that got me thinking about Judas. You know, Judas walked with Jesus for nearly three years. He heard the sermons, saw the miracles, traveled with the disciples. Probably looked just as spiritual as everybody else standing there. If you and I had been there, we probably never would’ve picked him out of the group.

But eventually what was on the inside showed up.

The Bible says in John 13:27: “And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.”

Now Satan can oppress, tempt, and hinder believers, but Scripture never teaches that Satan possesses a truly redeemed believer. Judas looked right on the outside. Talked right on the outside and walked with Jesus on the outside. But spiritually there was another bloodline in there somewhere.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:16: “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Not by their talk or appearance. Not by how many Bible verses they post online. Fruit eventually tells the story.

And friend, we’re living in a time where there’s a whole lot of churches with steeples but no surrender to Scripture. A whole lot of people claim the name of Christ but reject the authority of His Word.

They want the label without the Lordship. Jesus said plainly in John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Not perfectly, or flawlessly. But genuinely.

A changed heart eventually produces changed fruit. That’s why 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.”

In other words: Run the spiritual DNA test now before eternity runs it for you.

Make sure your faith isn’t just family tradition.

Church attendance.

Good morals.

Outdoor values.

Patriotism.

Or emotional moments.

Make sure your hope is rooted in the pure and precious bloodline of Jesus Christ.

Because salvation isn’t about looking the part. Judas looked the part. Salvation is about surrendering to Christ from the inside out.

Now before somebody gets nervous, I’m glad God can save mixed up people. If He couldn’t, none of us would make it. Every one of us has some mutt in us spiritually speaking. But when Jesus saves a man, He changes the bloodline. He records his name or registers him the Bible says.

So maybe it’s time we all stop looking at the pedigree papers of everybody else and examine our own fruit.

Because old Tyge taught me something all those years ago: Sometimes what appears pure on the outside tells a different story once the pups show up.