Shepherding Focus
I started this morning thinking about the upcoming year and about things to focus on. One thing that has been echoing in my mind as a common theme for the past month the image of people in our community as wondering along anonymously in pain – even in the holidays. This has been a theme. So this morning when I started to read today’s Bible Reading online it was interesting to read:
Ask rain from the Lord
in the season of the spring rain,
from the Lord who makes the storm clouds,
and he will give them showers of rain,
to everyone the vegetation in the field.For the household gods utter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.
People need direction and wisdom. We need it mostly from our Chief Shepherd Jesus, but also us under shepherds can help people see Jesus more clearly. – An interesting challenge.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I definitely agree. I am reminded of a verse in Hosea where God said “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” These days and times we are definitely blessed with abundance of knowlege available (great authors, internet, media) but again we are lost in our sorrow a lot of times because we are not seeking the truth with all our heart and soul. We are drifting with the culture and absorb whatever is easiest to swallow and grab. The local church is where we can grow and mature in our walk with Christ. But just like having gym membership doesn’t automatically give us a fit body so also church membership or even being born again doesn’t mean we are living in the abundant life that Jesus came and died to give us. Once we are Christians we do have all the resources available to live that life but we need to apply God’s truth to our lives to experience all that God has for us. Working out for physical health can be difficult and this holds true for spiritual life as well but if we CONTINUE to “work out” we will benefit the rewards.
We can see Jesus most clearly not necessarily in the talk or in the preaching but in the lives of our pastors and fellow Christians. Paul always talks of imitating him (Phil 3 and other places). How can he say that unless the churches knew who he was as a person. So we need not only good preaching but good examples to imitate from our leaders. Therefore we need to get connected more with our leaders on a more intimate level some how. How can DHEFC accomplish this?