All Bark and No Bite

“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.”
(1 Peter 2:11)

Someone once said, “If you were not strangers in this world, the hounds of Hell would not bark at you.” This is so true…when you stand out like a stranger, not strange as in weird & goofy, but as someone who doesn’t belong to this world, then the hounds will bark. But don’t be afraid…their bark is much worse than their bite.

When my son was about 8 or 9 we lived three houses down from one of the most ferocious looking dogs I had ever seen. He looked like a cross between a Rottweiler and a pit bull. Large, white & looked like he was on steroids & his bark was very deep & very loud & very often. I instructed my son to watch out for this dog & if he was out playing and saw the dog roaming the neighborhood, to make sure that he came inside immediately.

One day I was inside & my son was out playing in the front yard, I looked out the window to check on him…to my freaked-out surprise he was standing face to face with this deranged, evil, monstrous dog and was holding a piece of rawhide while the dog chewed on it! I bolted out of the door like Cam Newton through an offensive line, except when we played Alabama & made a mad dash to save my son from being mauled by this savage beast. I yelled at him to get away from the dog & heard the neighbors older son say, “Don’t worry, he’s harmless”. About that time my son let go of the rawhide & the dog tried to hold onto it as it slithered out of his mouth. “He hasn’t got a tooth in his mouth”, yelled the neighbors son. I watched as the dog tried to pick up the rawhide. When he did, it once again slid right out of his mouth. He was as toothless as a newborn baby. I sat & laughed…the vicious man eater was a toothless rawhide smacker.

The hounds of Hell are much like this old dog…they look mean & sound bad, but truth be known…they have no bite, no power whatsoever. Their bark is much worse than their bite. So when they bark, when they make fun, when they joke about the way you live to honor God, count it as a blessing…that you are seen as a stranger in this world.

Vern