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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My
pasture!” declares the Lord.
“Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the
shepherds who tend My people: Because you have scattered My flock and driven
them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you
for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. “I Myself will gather the
remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will
bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in
number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no
longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:1-4
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
There is one truth that is undeniable.
All people have one thing in common, whether they want to acknowledge it
or not. They are all made by the same Master Creator and Shepherd, the Lord God
Almighty.
In other words, we’re all related, all part of the same flock and it’s a
shame we often choose to not live that way, focusing on what makes us the same instead
of what might make us different.
Perhaps that is the greatest wicked act that Satan, our enemy,
accomplishes each and every day. For he is a master at division, always seeking
to first separate us from the Lord and then from one another by using any
number of vehicles to do so. Think about all the things we use to distinguish
ourselves one from another and you will see his evil methods at work, ever
seeking to scatter the flock of the Lord by way of false shepherds. Those shepherds
may use ideologies to wage people against each other. They may use
socioeconomic differences to sort the affluent from the poor. They may even use
ethnic, religious, gender, or age differences to segregate us from one another.
Indeed, we are a scattered flock today. It’s even evident in our
Christian churches as each denomination becomes more and more independent of
others, fracturing the common cause of Christ we were all called to. Can you
imagine how much more the power and spread of the Gospel of Jesus could be if
we would all just set aside what makes our churches different and go out
together hand-in-hand to answer the call of the Great Commission (Matthew
28:18-20)? I believe there would be no greater movement in human history than that
one if we would just unite as one and make it happen.
So how do we get there from here? How do we turn away from the path of divisiveness
Satan has us on to become the united people in Christ we’re supposed to be?
It all comes in returning to the True Shepherd, the Lord God Almighty, as
one people.
It wouldn’t be the first time it needed to happen as we see in the
opening verses of Jeremiah, Chapter 23:
“Woe to the shepherds who are
destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.
“Therefore this is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend My people: Because you have
scattered My flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I
will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. “I
Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I
have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be
fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend
them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,”
declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:1-4
Note here the key problem with the people of God is that they had
followed the wrong shepherds and had been led away from the Lord to a place of
destruction, a place where sin abided. This was most evident in the pagan
worship practices the Israelites entered into, practices that were endorsed by
even the people God expected would lead and direct His people in His ways. Such
practices incited God’s anger and judgment, resulting in seventy years of exile
for His people but His punishment on the false shepherds would be even harsher
because of the evil they had done. As we have seen in earlier chapters, these
evildoers would not be allowed to ever return to Judah again. In other words,
they would never be allowed to shepherd God’s flock again. Instead, God would
do it Himself, returning to His people as their True Shepherd, the only One who
could bring them back to their pasture where they could be fruitful and
multiply in number.
Indeed, this promise came to be after the seventy year exile as God made
the way for His people to return to Judah to rebuild and renew the land as well
as the holy city of Jerusalem which had been left in ruins by the Babylonians
after their invasion. The returning people would make a special effort to not
only rebuild their homes but their faith as well, confessing that they had
sinned and deserved the judgment God sent on them. Their goal was to ensure it
never happened again, to ensure that they would keep their flock intact this
time, under the watchful eye and protection of the True Shepherd.
Friends, the Lord desires to do the same again today. All we need to do
is allow Him to gather us back together where we can be one flock again under
His divine care, one flock tended to by the True Shepherd, the One who will one
day come to capture His sheep and take them to an eternal pasture where they
will live in His glory forever.
Are you ready to be a part of the Lord’s flock again if you have strayed
away?
I pray you will allow the True Shepherd to gather you back in His arms
and return you to His care, where others who seek and follow Him faithfully
abide.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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