10/01/2011 - The way we must look at our brethren

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“For you are our glory and joy.” (I Thessalonians 2:20)

A shepherd must take care of his sheep with responsibility. Each worker of the field of the Lord was called to help our Master to look after the divine flock. We may not be the best but we’re responsible for the lives entrusted to us. Like David, we must fight against lions and bears that come to snatch some sheep out of our hands (I Samuel 17:34-37). The Lord Jesus said that none of those who’d been given to Him was lost except for the son of perdition (John 17:12). We’ve got to fulfil that commandment with responsibility!

Our ministry mustn’t be a boastful showiness of supremacy. We’ve been destined to be everybody’s servants. We’re like responsible parents who stay up all night watching over their children; just like good parents who work to meet the needs of those who were born in their households or those who joined them. Good shepherds have the same duty. If need be, they must give their lives for their sheep (John 10:11).

It’s our duty to take the flock of the Lord to lie down in green pastures beside still waters (Psalm 23:2). We must keep an eye on them while they feed in the shade. It’s sad when the “wolf of prostitution” comes to take some of our sheep and even worse when it takes away the very servant of God in charge of the flock. We must ponder on the mission we’ve been assigned!

Those who are reckless will suffer great harm because he who commits a sin is drifting apart from the Lord. Jesus can’t walk with those who make agreements with the enemy and do his will. There’ll be no excuse for the unfaithful servant because the Scriptures dictate the attitude we must take regarding people. That’s why the servants of the Lord must spend hours reading the Word, meditating on it and living it day after day.

It’s a serious mistake to abuse any of our sheep. This symbolism is real: The sheep don’t know where they’re heading for; they can’t feel the danger of a beast nearby, that’s why their shepherds cannot fail to keep watching over them all the time. Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully (Jeremiah 48:10).

We mustn’t seek the glory of our ministry as ones looks for the glory of this world. Politicians like to be remembered; artists, to be applauded and other people, to be pampered. However, the Lord\’s servants have already been warned that being placed in the world as the scum of society they will be reviled and persecuted because of God\’s Kingdom (Matthew 5:11). Our glory is to see the Lord’s flock growing healthily and prospering and living in holiness.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares