Tuesday / Follow the Shepherd
Read 1 Peter 2: 21-25 (NLT)
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.
Think
Cook Campus at Rutgers University–New Brunswick is home base to both the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. It’s the place where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Plant Science and Horticulture. While I was attending there, I often enjoyed visiting the sheep barns. The warm, woolly flocks would press up to the fence as I reached in to pat them. What they were expecting, I can’t say, but they always seemed eager to see me. Still, they never remembered me from day to day. Each afternoon as I walked by their pasture, they would rush up as if I were something totally new to them. I would walk along the fence toward their barn, but the sheep would never follow me.
In fact, the farmer once remarked to me that he was the only person the sheep truly knew on sight, the only person they would follow. He was the one who fed them, cared for their young, and brought them in out of the rain. He often sacrificed his personal life to care for them, giving up time with his family whenever the sheep needed him.
In the same way, Jesus sacrificed his life to take care of me, his sheep. He brought me in out of the rain by dying on the cross. His suffering served to bring me back to God and continues to show me the way. As my true Shepherd, he feeds me and cares for me every day, even as I struggle to follow him in my daily life.
Pray
Dear Holy Lord, you are my Good Shepherd and when I follow you closely, you supply all my needs. Thank you for always leading me in the path you choose for me. Hold my hand, Lord, and keep me close by your side, safe forever. Amen.
Do
The 23rd Psalm is familiar to most people who follow Jesus. Take some time today to pray through it but read it in a translation that’s new to you and really pay attention to the words. Pause as you read the verses and contemplate the images. Imagine yourself walking with God through all the places mentioned in the Psalm, the green pastures and the dark valley. Thank God that no matter where you go, God is right there with you.
The View from Mt. Hope 