Part five compassion or obligation?
I awoke early this morning; couldn’t get that lost sheep out of my head. And I thought about where he had come from and where he was heading. A sheep doesn’t do very well by itself. A sheep needs it’s shepherd and it will only follow the true shepherd. It knows the shepherd’s voice. It also recognizes the rod and the staff.
I’m thinking what is the value of one lone sheep? I know the price of lamb is quite high, that’s one reason we seldom buy it. Another reason is that I’m the only one who likes it. But seriously what is the difference if one sheep out of one hundred does stray away and gets lost. After all it should have stayed with the flock. At first glance we wouldn’t have noticed that it was gone. In some or should I say most of our churches we certainly would not notice.
So if it gets lost and dies out there in the wilderness it serves it right, amen? After all that the shepherd has done for it…it still shows it’s gratitude by wandering off in the wilderness some place.
Stupid sheep…It deserves what it gets…? What value is it then? One out of one hundred…one percent. Collateral damage. That is what they call it in warfare and this Christian walk truly is a warfare. The closer you get to the Saviour…The more intense is the heat that the enemy turns up. If you have a desire to serve God with your whole heart and you are available to Him, then the devil will come at you with every trick in the book, every dirty trick
.
Back to the sheep. I don’t know all that much about sheep but I know that if one ends up on it’s back that it could very well die there. It is called a “cast” sheep. Also they need each other, they do not do very well on their own. Get the picture?
I started this entry with the sub title: compassion or obligation?
Paul said in Romans 1:14, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unwise.” We have an obligation (talking about people now) to see that they hear the Gospel. It’s really a debt according to the apostle. So it’s more than an obligation in my way of thinking. A debt is even a stronger term than an obligation….some will say that they are the same thing. O.K. but it’s serious business isn’t it? I am a debtor. And it is incumbent upon me that the lost sheep is at least searched for.
But what about the idea of compassion? Didn’t the shepherd in this parable epitomize what compassion really is? And look at the third parable of Jesus in this 15th. Chapter of Luke’s Gospel. What compassion the father showed for his lost son who came to himself and came home. Unless our obligation is motivated by compassion, what good can we do? There must be compassion when we deal with those who have despitefully used us. There must be compassion for the lost sheep. It is our motivation. My prayer today is Lord fill me with compassion for the lost.How about you?
I awoke early this morning; couldn’t get that lost sheep out of my head. And I thought about where he had come from and where he was heading. A sheep doesn’t do very well by itself. A sheep needs it’s shepherd and it will only follow the true shepherd. It knows the shepherd’s voice. It also recognizes the rod and the staff.
I’m thinking what is the value of one lone sheep? I know the price of lamb is quite high, that’s one reason we seldom buy it. Another reason is that I’m the only one who likes it. But seriously what is the difference if one sheep out of one hundred does stray away and gets lost. After all it should have stayed with the flock. At first glance we wouldn’t have noticed that it was gone. In some or should I say most of our churches we certainly would not notice.
So if it gets lost and dies out there in the wilderness it serves it right, amen? After all that the shepherd has done for it…it still shows it’s gratitude by wandering off in the wilderness some place.
Stupid sheep…It deserves what it gets…? What value is it then? One out of one hundred…one percent. Collateral damage. That is what they call it in warfare and this Christian walk truly is a warfare. The closer you get to the Saviour…The more intense is the heat that the enemy turns up. If you have a desire to serve God with your whole heart and you are available to Him, then the devil will come at you with every trick in the book, every dirty trick
.
Back to the sheep. I don’t know all that much about sheep but I know that if one ends up on it’s back that it could very well die there. It is called a “cast” sheep. Also they need each other, they do not do very well on their own. Get the picture?
I started this entry with the sub title: compassion or obligation?
Paul said in Romans 1:14, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unwise.” We have an obligation (talking about people now) to see that they hear the Gospel. It’s really a debt according to the apostle. So it’s more than an obligation in my way of thinking. A debt is even a stronger term than an obligation….some will say that they are the same thing. O.K. but it’s serious business isn’t it? I am a debtor. And it is incumbent upon me that the lost sheep is at least searched for.
But what about the idea of compassion? Didn’t the shepherd in this parable epitomize what compassion really is? And look at the third parable of Jesus in this 15th. Chapter of Luke’s Gospel. What compassion the father showed for his lost son who came to himself and came home. Unless our obligation is motivated by compassion, what good can we do? There must be compassion when we deal with those who have despitefully used us. There must be compassion for the lost sheep. It is our motivation. My prayer today is Lord fill me with compassion for the lost.How about you?
posted by Randall | 6:20 p.m.
3 Comments:
Randall IJUST CAME ONLINE AFEW DAY AGO AND BEEN READING YOUR BLOG YOUR WORD ON COMPASSION VALUES FORGIVENESS AND OUR LOST SHEEP ARE ALL THINGS WE NEED TO HEAR KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK C.M.
Thanks for another thought-provoking read. Like GRACE, the topic of FORGIVENESS is inexhaustable.
Keep on sharing your thoughts - keeps the rest of us thinking.
I have been feeling like a lost sheep lately. The strange thing is, is that i dont feel alone. Does that make sense? Im reading a devotional book called 'Safe in the Shepherds Arms' and it talks alot about the lost sheep. We all have to realize that we have all been 'lost' at one time or another. Its so true about what you said that when we get closer to the Lord, the devil is right there tempting us harder and more. He knows our weak points, but even though we get lost, Jesus is there to rescue us no matter how lost we are.
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