A Shepherd's Love

If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. -Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV)

Today's suggested scripture reading is one of the more beautiful images in all the Bible to me. As long as there is one sheep that is not with the flock, the shepherd is not content. He does not wait on the wayward sheep to come to him; he goes searching for wayward sheep. There is not a single sheep that isn't important to the shepherd.

Why would you leave the ninety-nine obedient sheep to go after a wayward one? Isn't that irresponsible? (My guess is that there was more than one shepherd watching the sheep; when one shepherd left in search of wayward sheep, the other ninety-nine were being tended to and cared for by someone else). But I'm thankful for a Shepherd who loves enough that, when one of the sheep strays or has never yet been in the pen, He is not willing to let us perish and goes looking.

May God grant you the grace, If you've been faithful and haven't wandered off from the Shepherd, to love the wayward sheep as much as the Shepherd does. And if you've wandered away or have never been in the pen to begin with, may God grant you the grace to know just how much you matter and how much you are loved by the Shepherd.



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Tomorrow's suggested readings: Matthew 19
Sunday's suggested reading: Matthew 20.
I'll be back on Monday with a devotional on Matthew 21.

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