Over the years I have come to believe that a lot can be gleaned about a person's character by the way they treat animals.
Without fail, I have observed that people who are kind to animals are tender hearted and usually are kind and fair with their dealings with people.
Conversely, those who are cruel or unkind to animals treat people in like manner.
Indeed, I have seen this in my own family, starting with my ex-husband who was a particularly cruel man.
He was very cruel to animals and treated me badly in our 25 year marriage. So much so, that I was forced to leave him to save myself.
His legacy was handed down to my first two children who have a dislike of animals, but are not cruel to them. They treat people around them with indifference and dislike generally as well.
My last two children not only are kind to animals, but actually dote on them. Their treatment of people generally is kind and fair.
Sadly, it has been noted by forensic scientists and so on that people who are cruel or kill animals eventually kill people.
Whenever I see people loving their pets or animals, I feel an affinity with them. After all, gentleness and kindness are fruits of the Spirit. I can be pretty sure that they would be nice people to know and would treat me with equity and fairness. I am rarely wrong.
God created animals for man to have dominion over, but as we see in Judaic Laws, they are to be treated humanely and compassionately at all times. Even when slaughtering them for food, it has to be killed with one smooth cut which is supposedly painless. Kosher.
It is said that animals and children are good judges of character, and I think there's a lot of truth in that. A character that is appalled at cruelty will be loving and gentle and one who does not care will not. Certainly, as born-again Christians, we should treat all living things well as they firstly belong to the LORD.
Test me and see if I am right by observing this for yourself. It is a useful tool to help in judging whether you can trust a person in daily life or not..as well as their walk with the LORD. We should be loving all creatures.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Proverbs 12:10 “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”