Good to be Sheep-ish

“He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.”—John 10:3

You may forget the person’s name you just met five minutes ago, and others may know you only as a “hi, how are you?” But what joy there is in knowing that when, by faith, we decide to follow Jesus, we are never an anonymous face in the sea of humanity. He not only knows my name, He is continually speaking to me—sometimes to get my attention, or to give direction, but always there to just enjoy the journey together. Jesus is the friend who would outdo all others with simple text messages of encouragement, “still here,” and “hey, did you ever think about this?”

And not only that, He is continually setting life-satisfying priorities before my very eyes. First, that the safest, happiest, and best place on earth is always within the gates of the presence of God—no matter how often, or how many ways, we try to prove Him otherwise. And that despite our insistence of perfection, it's always best when lived out with other sheep who don't always look or think like us. (Sheep, after all, is singular and it is also plural.)

And then, when it’s time to step out into the unknown of each day, or to simply go higher up and deeper in our walk, He always leads and never drags us along. Never a "dude, when are you ever going to learn?"

Sometimes, it can feel like we’re being pushed, but even then, it is done in the context of this:

No eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard,

And it has never occurred to your heart
All the things I, your God, your Shepherd, your Friend, have prepared for you

Simply because you love and trust Me.

Lord, help us to know Your voice more and more, to forsake all others, to follow, to commune as breathing in and breathing out...and to remember that the reason the plural sheep has survived all these centuries against all odds and has impacted the neighborhood and world is because of one thing only: Love—first love, not second or third, or when-I-have-time-for-it Love.