Thursday, November 6, 2008

Am I a sheep

Psalms 23:1
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shal not want."

Everthing a sheep wants is provided for by a shepherd. So am I a Sheep or not. I had never thought about wanting until I did a lesson on it this last Sunday. The first thing we have to realise is that "wanting" is "covetousness" and Christ tells us to beware of it.

Luke 12:15
And he said unto them, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth"

He then goes on to tell the parable of the man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones to hold all his goods. I don't believe that there is anything wrong with having possessions, because Job was called the greatest man in the East because of his possessions, but Job always put Gods will in front of his possessions. He made Gods will his will. Jobs heart was in the right place.

Ezekiel 33:31
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness"

Wanting is a virus! It grows in your heart until you are not happy with what the Lord has blessed you with. It is easy to think that wanting is not such a bad thing, but listen to group of sins the Bible puts it in with.

Romans 1:29-31
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, COVETOUSNESS, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Colossians 3:5
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and COVETOUSNESS which is IDOLATRY.

This shined a whole new light on it for me. I guess wanting is a very bad thing after all. The Bible even calls it idolatry, or the putting of things in front of God.

A shepards job is to take care of the sheep, make sure that they have everthing that they need. Christ is our shepherd! In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus tells us that he takes care of all that he created and that he will take care of us.

DO I TRUST HIM TO DO THIS!!!

If I do trust him then why do I want? Why do I try to take care of things by myself? Why don't I turn to him and let the Great Shepherd do what is best for me.

Matthew 25:31-33
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

When I think of sheep & goats, I think of sheep as animals that are peaceable, content, and happy with what the shepherd has provided. I think of goats as animals that are rowdy, incontent and always looking for greener pastures, not happy with wht they have.

AM I A SHEEP


Written with LOVE and tears of joy as I realize I am very blessed by the Lord

Crucified Cristian
Paul

3 comments:

Jules said...

How I wish I could have heard you give this lesson, Paul. :) I need LOTS of work on my contentment issues, lol. You have a good way of bringing out the truth in a way I can understand. Keep up the good work and keep the word of God coming! :)

Love you,
Julie

Charlie said...

No your an old goat!! HA HA!That first thing that thought when I read that.But you have a great study there that no one ever talks about.Its easy to see what others have that we don't and so many times we don't even need it.

In brotherly love,
Charlie

Jules said...

Hey,

I tagged you on my blog since you obviously don't blog anymore, I am MAKING you!!! HAHA. :)

love you!
Sis