The Good Shepherd and His Good Shepherds

“For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live. Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in the lush pastures of the hills. I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign LORD. I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice! [Ezekiel 34.11-16]

This passage in Ezekiel is titled "The Good Shepherd."

I have always considered this passage a good starting place for those in ministry. But today, like never before, I realized that all who follow Christ, the Good Shepherd, are in ministry! Every single believer in Jesus is to be, like our example, a good shepherd.

Believers in Jesus are to do the works Jesus did. By Jesus' own words, we are to do the same works He did, but also greater works. We are to search for His scattered flock - we are to rescue them and bring them home. We are to bring them to good pasture, tend to them, and enable them to lie down in peace. We are to care for their wounds and make them strong.

With all this good we are to do, we are also then tasked with the objective of destroying the fat and powerful sheep. What does that mean? Well, best I can tell, fat and powerful sheep have spent too much time on themselves - pushing other sheep aside to get the good pasture all for themselves - they are focused only on themselves and not the flock as a whole. They are the ones who only want what they want and "all others will just have get their own." (This sounds like most people in churches today - it's all about them getting something from God)

Father, help me to see that it's not about what I get, being Your child, but about what I give, as a good shepherd following the lead of Jesus, The Good Shepherd.