Shepherding Lesson

Only the Lord Jesus truly is the good Shepherd. Without His shepherding life in me, I can never shepherd anyone. I have been learning this lesson time and again. My heart has been for shepherding the new ones and I have been doing so with a good number of younger ones and older ones too. Whether by meeting them physically or virtually over the phone, I have been enjoying the Lord’s grace to be able to shepherd. This definitely requires the Lord Jesus' shepherding life.

John 10:11-14, RecVer

11. I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

12. He who is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

13. He flees because he is a hireling and it does not matter to him concerning the sheep.

14. I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me,

At times, when the shepherded ones were not available, or were not picking the calls, I learn not to give up on them nor be discouraged. But I kept praying for them all the more. Sometimes, I intentionally called them even when I knew for sure that some of them would not pick my calls nor reply to my texts, I still regard them as "sheep the Lord entrusted me to shepherd" and I faithfully do what I am required to do. This is an important lesson I have been learning these days. Deep within me, I still trust that the Lord remembers my heart for these ones and He will, in His time, recover all of them. As some of them have strayed away from the church life, some veered away to the world, and some have completely lost interest even in spiritual things. Nonetheless, I don't give up on them as the Lord would not give up on anyone else. One day, the Lord will recover all of them for our labor in the Lord will never be in vain.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58, RecVer

Two young brothers have not been picking my calls nor bothered to answer my texts any longer. This is a good test for me as a learning shepherd, how I deal with such ones. It's so easy to simply give them up, but I will not, unless the Lord indicated to me to give up. Herein lies my attitude towards them as a shepherd. May the Lord grace me all the more and reproduce His shepherding life in me.