Sheep
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is in the excerpt.
A sheep is a stupid animal, and they follow one another and lose their direction continually in a way that cats and dogs do not. But even when they are found they are never happy to be found. It is extremely difficult to round up a lost sheep and bring it home unless you have a dog to scare it. The lost sheep rushes to and fro so that even when you find it, you must seize it, cast it down, tie its four legs together, put his hind legs together, put it over your shoulder and carry it home struggling. The sheep never feels loved when it's being loved. They never feel safe when it's being made safe.
In John 10 Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd. The hired hand when he sees the wolf coming; he abandons the sheep and runs away, but I lay down my life for the sheep." Jesus is the only shepherd who became a sacrificial lamb. Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Here's what Jesus is saying to you. "I am the good shepherd. I lost my glory, my Father, and my life, so that I wouldn't lose you." There's no better way to intimacy with God than to have something horrible happen in your life that makes you really doubt God's love and go to Him anyway and say, "By God's grace, Thy will be done." When it's hard, pray anyway. When it is hard, obey anyway. When you feel like you are being ceased and thrown unto the ground, just say, "Thy will be done," and it'll push you into an intimacy that you never had because you'll have to get to know Him as a shepherd. If you've been wounded and you say, "Lord, I want you to heal me," but it doesn't look like you are getting healed, then there is only one way through it. You must say, "Evidently God you want a wounded me in this world to do certain things and to be a certain person and to get certain things done that I couldn't get done unless I was wounded. To say, "Thy will be done by the grace of God," is a way to intimacy.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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