Lessons I Learnt From Observing Our Pet Dog - Part 3

Jesus told His disciples that His sheep hears His voice and listens to Him (John 10:14-16).
¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
It is interesting that our dog can actually differentiate each of our voices and his responses differ based on his opinion of us.  To me, he responses as one who would bring him out of the house for his nature calls and he is usually quick afraid of me as I am usually his disciplinarian.  To my wife, he endears her as he views her as a 'big cookie' because she spoils him with biscuits, cookies and dog-treats.  To our daughter he attributes her as one who would groom him and to our son, he usually bullies him as he knows our son is the master and he is good-natured towards him.
And so, from this I learnt that my response to our Lord will depend on my perception of Him; if I view our Lord as one who punishes me when I do wrong, then I would cower in fear whenever I approach Him (if at all).
Praise the Lord that He is not one who is always looking out to discipline us; in fact He loves us so much that He gave up His life for us and will not hesitate to bless us in more ways than we can ask or even imagine.