Day 232: The Sheep and the Shepherd

John 10:26-27

But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Here, Jesus had just been told by the Pharisees, “If you are the Messiah tell us.”  To which Jesus responded, “I did tell you, you just don’t believe me… Then He goes on to say, you are not my sheep, my sheep listen to my voice and I know them. We cannot follow Jesus if we do not listen to His voice. We cannot be a part of His flock if we don’t listen to Him. We can be sheep, but we choose our shepherd. We choose to follow Christ or not, and those of us who listen to His voice, are His sheep. If we aren’t listening to Christ and following Him we are not one of His sheep.

Before I go any further into today’s devo I want to first explore the relationship of the sheep and the Shepherd. There are so many mind blowing parallels as to how our relationship with God is synonymous to the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd.

While researching I came across a blog post that put it all in perspective and dug deep into the meaning of these relationships and why it is so relevant for us as followers of Christ. There were a few things that stood out to me that I’d like to make note of.

“Guidance for the sheep. The Eastern shepherd never drives his sheep as does the Western shepherd. He always leads them, often going before them. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them” (John 10:4). This does not mean that the shepherd is always in front of his sheep. Although he may be usually in that position when traveling, he often walks by their side, and sometimes follows behind, especially if the flock is headed for the fold in the evening. From the rear he can gather any stragglers, and protect such from a sly attack from a wild animal.”

The shepherd is a leader and protector of the sheep. He goes before them showing them the way, but He is always right there beside them. He is making sure that nothing can harm them. He’s protecting them as they go, and gathering the ones that seem to be straying away from the herd or wandering off. Sound familiar? This is how Jesus is to us, always by our side, He has gone before us and shown us the way and He is constantly leading us through life. Jesus isn’t going to let us get too far away from the flock because He’s right there to make sure that we get right back on track, and if we do get lost, he will come looking for us to bring us back.

“It is very important that sheep should not be allowed to stray away from the flock, because when by themselves they are utterly helpless.“

We cannot navigate through this world alone, we need Jesus. We desperately need Him. Without Him we are like lost sheep, we are wandering through this world with no direction, guidance, or hope, we’re lost. All of this is found in Christ, so apart from Him we are helpless, as the quote says.

I think another important message to learn here is that in order for us to follow Christ and listen to His word we must trust Him. The flock trusts the shepherd with their life, everything they are depends on the shepherd, they have learned to trust their shepherd and listen to His voice. They will not follow the wrong voice either. I believe that as followers of Christ, if we do not trust Him, we are wasting our time. When we don’t trust someone we hesitate to listen to them, we question everything they do, we will not give them a chance to be a part of our life. We cannot have a solid relationship without trust.

Another thing to note is that it is very important who we choose to follow here on earth. I’m talking about churches and pastors, especially when we are new Christians and we are looking for guidance. Ask God for discernment, because it is a dangerous thing to be led by someone who puts up a facade that they are leading you to Christ but leading the entire church astray. Be careful who you listen to and who you let influence you. At the end of the day you follow Jesus, and if someone is trying to lead you away from Him, they are not for you, no matter who they are or what they seem to represent.  

Reflection

1. Would you consider yourself a part of Christ’s flock?
2. Have you ever been led astray by your own doing?
3. Has anyone ever tried to lead you away from Christ?
4. Check your surroundings, and the people you call your leaders, are they leading you in the right direction?
5. If you are a leader, are you leading God’s people toward Him?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask God to give you the spirit of discernment and talk to Him about whatever is on your heart today.

If you have been led astray for whatever reason, now is the time to come back. Now is the time to rededicate or resubmit your life to Christ. Surrender to Him, ask Him to make you new. Know that He is standing there waiting with open arms, you’re not too far gone for Him to reach. You’re not a lost cause, Jesus loves you and He wants you near.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 233!

Day 47: Smoke and Mirrors

Things are never as they seem to be, and that can be good or bad, depending on the situation and how we look at it. . We as young adults are constantly finding out what is real and what is not. We are constantly trying to sort through what is real, and what seems to be real. We are at a point in our life, where we are starting to realize, “my parents were right”. But more importantly we are growing in Christ and gaining discernment so we can see through the smoke and mirrors and see the truth. Many people use the term Smoke and mirrors as a bad thing, but I’m going to bend that definition a bit and say that things are not always as they seem.

Matthew 7:15

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

2 Corinthians 4:18

So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

There are a couple of points to make today. We will start with the obvious. Many of us have grown up hearing the scripture, beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Meaning don’t be fooled by people pretending to be something they are not. In the scripture Jesus is speaking these words, He is telling the people to beware of the false prophets, they look good and they sound good but that doesn’t always mean it’s good for us. Growing up my mom would always tell us, “Everything that glitters ain’t gold.” Just because something looks good doesn’t mean it is. Looks can be deceiving as we all know. Jesus goes on to tell the people that we will recognize them by their fruits. A healthy tree does not produce bad fruit, and an unhealthy tree cannot produce good fruit. Sometimes we are in the presence of a bad tree but are so caught up in it’s beauty that we don’t realize the toxic fruit it's bearing. We must pay attention to the things and people around us, the people we look up to and the people we let in our lives. People are great at talking but when the actions and words of a person collide, we have a problem.

I am not saying that everyone we meet is out to get us, we just have to wise to see through the deception. God gives us vision to see beyond the foolishness. We look past the moving lips, and the distractions to see the truth. God also gave us parents with wisdom, as hard as it may be, most of the time they are right in these situations.

I know for a fact my mom was right about fake friends. I didn’t listen and had to come back and apologize. Because mom was right all along. I realized that God didn’t give me parents just so they could tell me what to do, they are wiser than me, and I had to learn to listen to the words they were speaking to me, even when they were hard to swallow.

-Dyamond

The hard thing about this is that sometimes we get attached to the things that we know are no good for us. The most common things are relationships, when our hearts and feelings are invested, it’s hard to let go. I’m pretty sure many of us know this from experience, I know I do. We can know that the person we are with is only their to drain us, and not to do good by us; they look good, they feel good, they make us feel good, what they say is good, but there’s something off and we try to act like we don’t know what it is. We don’t even have to look that deep to know they are sheep dressed in wolves clothing, it’s right in front of our face. Everything pleasurable isn’t ethical.

God gives us vision sometimes we just choose not to see. Smoke and mirrors look good to us, we’d rather not know the truth because it’s too deep, it will hurt too bad. We have to look pass our own pain sometimes to see the bigger picture. It hurts right now but I promise it’s better now than later, and it won’t last forever, I can promise you that. It will work together for our good, because God has our back. Which brings me to my next point. In life, everything isn’t what it seems.

Romans 8:28 says, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Sometimes we look at all the things going on in our life and cannot understand how it can ever get any  better. But their is a bigger picture, a large mural actually. God sees that bigger picture, He painted it. Right now we only see a small portion of it, and we can’t quite make out what it is yet. But the more we grow, the more we lean into God, and trust that there is more to what the physical eye can see that image will start to grow. Eventually we will see the big picture and we will understand that we had to go through some valleys, and some dark places to get to where we are. Nothing is as it seems. It may look like we are being punished, it may look like nothing is getting better, but trust me God is behind it all. He’s directing us, and strengthening us, we are growing with Him. So when He does that big reveal we will understand that He was there the whole way, we will discover a path or a pattern. We had to go through that rough time to get to where we are, we had to reach that stumbling block, to know that God won’t let us fall. We had to reach that dead end to know that God can make a way out of no way. It’s all working out, it’s all coming together, we just have to trust Him. We must know that even though it’s not as it seems, or life isn’t going the way it should go, it’s going the way God planned. It will work out, it will be okay.

Reflection

1. Is there anyone wolves in your life dressed in sheep's clothing?
2. Based on your previous answer, are you willing to let them go?
3. Is there something or someone in your life that you know is not good for you, but you are choosing to overlook because you are too attached, or letting them or it go will hurt too bad? These are the things or people that you probably did not mention in question one. Think about it before you answer, once you have that answer, refer to question two.
4. Repeat these four words, “God really loves me.”
   
   

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. If there are people in your life or things in your life holding you back give it to God. Talk to Him about the things you want to hide from Him or shy away from today. Talk to Him about the bigger picture and what that is, allow God into your heart, listen for what He is saying to you. Be honest with God, remember that prayer is just a conversation with God. Some conversations are harder than others and this might be one of those, but have it anyway. He’s listening not judging, just talk to Him, listen for a response, and obey His words.

I hope you have an amazing day or evening, rest in His presence today. I love you so much. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 48! And share this with a friend!