On being sheep...

One of the great insults to our pride in the Bible is God's description of us as sheep. Basically, God is saying, "you guys act like sheep!" If you know sheep that's a bitter pill to swallow, it's a blow to our pride, an insult to our intellect.

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As a "shepherd to sheep" myself I have seen this prove true far too many times. It's hard to admit it, but I'm a sheep too. We are....for the most part...stupid, selfish, inconsiderate, smelly, nervous, easily irritated, not responsive to leadership.....is that enough to get us started? The Bible says, "all we LIKE SHEEP have gone astray." All we? Me too? YES! We wander....we wander from God, from truth, from safety, from the "flock" and find ourselves in trouble. Most of my work as a pastor is helping those sheep who have wandered away as they deal with the results of their wanderings. There's an old gospel song with this verse, "prone to wander, Lord I feel it..." And it's true. We wander because, like sheep, we are dumb! Solomon uses different words to describe it, but dumb will suffice for our purposes.

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God tells us what will help us...what's best for us, which way to go, and how to find his best. Our response? We ignore him and go "our own way." We are so brilliant, we seem to think we know more than the one who made us. So, today, from one dumb sheep to many more, let me encourage you to stay close to the shepherd, make sure you are close enough to hear his voice. Don't wander off...it will come to no good at all. With Christmas near it's a great opportunity to "wander back" to the shepherd and get to know him all over again. Hanging out with the shepherd will dispel your fear of the wolves all around.