The Greatest Shepherd

It is 1st October 2020, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.

If we go to the Book of 1 Peter Chapter 5 and reading from verse 2:

“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

Jesus always leads by example and never by force or by fear, unlike so many other religions.

I remember many years ago when I was doing my agricultural training in Scotland, that I would spend weekends with my Uncle Ronnie.

He was my dad’s brother and he was a very, very compassionate and good shepherd.

He had been sickly all his life. He never had much opportunity to go to school because he was always in hospital.

So he became a shepherd and a very good shepherd at that.

He was a compassionate man.

He never lorded it over his sheep or his sheep dogs.

He owned about five or six border collies and these dogs would do anything for him because they loved him so much.

He was very strict but he really loved them. In fact, those dogs actually kept his job for him.

He was very sought after by all the different landowners because of his ability to handle large flocks of many, many sheep.

It was because of his dogs.

You know, they loved him so much that the one time he had a bad asthma attack and landed up in hospital.

They had to put his dogs in a wire enclosure.

Those dogs loved him so much they actually chewed through the netting wire, to try and get out and find their master.

He would take the little puppies and he would train them up to look after the sheep and sell them for a little bit of extra cash, but it wouldn’t work because the dogs wouldn’t listen to their new masters.

Many times he had to give them their money back because they would only work for him.

You and I should remember that we cannot force people or compel people to follow after the Great Shepherd, The Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to love them into God’s Kingdom so that they will willingly embrace the Greatest Shepherd of all time.

Have a wonderful day today as you be a living example to others as to how a follower of Jesus should live.

Have a great day.

God bless you and goodbye.