Better Than Sheep?

Sheep, sheep, sheep. What can I say about sheep?

1) Sheep need water to survive, but they can’t tell clean water from dirty water.
2) Sheep need food, but can’t tell good grass from poisonous plants.
3) Sheep will graze the same land over and over until it becomes eroded.
4) When sheep are attacked, they often freeze instead of running or crying out.
5) Conversely, sheep can panic at sudden noise and run straight into danger.
6) Sheep can drown in swift water when their wool becomes waterlogged.
7) When sheep fall over onto their backs, they can’t get up!

In short, sheep need help. They need a shepherd.

We think we’re so much better than sheep. We build tall buildings. We read and write and speak. We have thumbs.

But how many times have you:

1) Chosen something dirty over something clean?
2) Chosen something poisonous over something nourishing?
3) Repeated the same action over and over without benefit?
4) Frozen when you should have fled?
5) Fled when you should have frozen?
6) Felt drowned by all life’s troubles weighing you down?
7) Fallen and couldn’t get up?

In short, we need a shepherd too. And Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who guides us along the right paths to what is good and beneficial, protects us from danger, and helps us up when we fall.

“’I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’” John 10:11.

How have you benefitted from Jesus' shepherding?