Wolves

But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.  John 10:12

Wolves.  In John, Jesus talks about wolves catching and scattering sheep.  He compares Himself as the Good Shepherd to a hireling.  The hireling being someone that is just doing a job versus Jesus who will lay down His own life to protect His sheep.  The result of the hireling leaving is that the wolves scatter the sheep.

So, wolves.  They come at a time when the sheep are not under the watch of the Good Shepherd.  If we as Christians are the sheep, and Jesus is the Shepherd, what does this mean?  What about when we look at the times in our lives when we take control.  We stop asking God for His direction, stop listening to the voice of the Shepherd, start making our own way.  When we do, we are taking ourselves out from under the authority of the Shepherd.  When we are called and do not respond, we are taking ourselves out from His authority.  Then, the wolves come.

The wolves are a bad thing.  Trust me.  However, don't lose the beauty of a God that cares for us more deeply than we can realize.  The wolves will drive us back to Him for protection, comfort and love.  The wolves, as all creation, serve to glory God.

Remember, the wolves would have never showed up if we were near the Good Shepherd...

Focus on Jesus

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.  2 Corinthians 4:8-10

God is good.  Period.  It's often easy to look at trouble in the world (pain, disease, death) and question how there could be a God.  How could He be called good?  The problem with that comes from looking at God from a human perspective.


We view God from our rules, our mindset.  We think He should behave a certain way because that makes sense to us.  However, we forget the trouble that lead to where we are today.  That trouble is the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.  When man sinned against God we were separated from Him.  Even worse, we placed ourselves under the plans of the enemy.  It is our enemy that brings pain to our world.  It is our Lord that loves us enough to send His son to die for our redemption.

That is why I focus on the first from second Corinthians.  It does not say that Christians are shielded from pain and suffering.  It says the opposite.  These trials will come.  It is our reaction to them that is different.  We are not confused, beat down, self-pitying any longer.  We stand in the power of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  His sacrifice.  His blood.  His love has given us power over these attacks.  Our reaction is a testimony to Him.

So.  How's your testimony?  Do you react as a redeemed Christian, or as a victim in the world?  Focus on Jesus!  He will carry us through.

Idols

Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 26:1

An idol in life is not always a statue of wood or metal. It can be anything we worship or bow down to. It could be our reputation, money, a car, a house, even a relationship with another human.

God is calling us to have a heart that reaches toward Him. A heart that puts nothing else to His level in our lives. He is our father. Our creator. Our teacher. Our Lord. Do we treat Him as such? I know many times in my life I have fallen short.

I am trying to clean out my spiritual temple of idols and other junk. It's an ongoing process. I think I am making progress and suddenly I find a whole new pile of junk to deal with. I think that God works like that on purpose. Showing us enough to know we have work to do, and making the piles more manageable. The hardest part for me is keeping focused on the cleanup and not giving over to the urge to put it off, or be complacent with where I am.

How about you? Idols? Working to clean them out or happy with the junk?

What are you living for?

Right now I'm working on that. I want to believe I can be like Elisha.

So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. (1 Kings 19:19-21 KJV)


When Elisha was called by God, he abandonded everything from his old life. He was a farmer. Plowing a field to plant. When he was called, he said goodbye to his parents, killed some of the oxen he was using to plow the field and then broke the plow to burn for cooking the oxen he just killed. He then shared the food with his friends and left.

He kept nothing from his past. I think this is the kind of life God is calling us to.

So what about you? What are you living for?