Thursday, March 26, 2009

Today's Passage: Matthew 18

I think it would be really easy to spend four days on this passage and still not really get to everything it has. There is so much to take from this chapter that I encourage you to spend some extra time on it. For our time today, I really want to focus on the section about the lost sheep.

It is funny how God works with us sometimes, as this is really where I have been lately. I have really been feeling that God has been pressing on me to start having a passion for the lost sheep. I have allowed myself to really get in a routine and, for lack of a better term, a bubble. I go to work at a Christian university, then I go to school at the same Christian university, and then I come and spend time at our church. I am surrounded by sheep that are already found. God, however, has stirred my heart and told me that it is time to go looking for lost sheep.

I think we all get in a groove of doing our everyday schedule and we get our eyes focused on things and we forget to look for sheep who are wandering aimlessly as we pass them by. We have got to figure out how to slow down from our daily routine and start intentionally spending time looking for those who do not have Christ. I was reading a book last night for a paper and in it the author talks about the first time we really experience God. It made me think back to when I accepted that I needed a savior back in middle school. I had such a passion for God then that I had to tell my friends about the change. I was a lost sheep that was found, and all I wanted to do was find other lost sheep. I believed that God was big enough to change me and anyone else who heard about him.

I still believe that, but sometimes I do not act that way. I am sad to say that I think that passion I had as a teenager has dwindled. The good news is I have realized it and want to change. I want to have the passion and excitement that I had the day I first believed. Think of when you were the lost sheep, and then think of how amazing it was to be brought into the flock by Christ. We have to return to that excitement!

My prayer for you is the same prayer I pray for myself, that I would remember the passion that I had when I first joined the flock, so that I may have the passion to find others that need to be brought into the flock.