Are you the sheep of the Good Shepherd?

Are you the sheep of the Good Shepherd? In the last blog I mentioned that Jesus is the Good Shepherd but are we His sheep? What are the characteristics of a good sheep? Good sheep allow Jesus to go ahead and they follow Him. They also recognise Jesus’s leadership qualities and abilities. Good sheep believe and trust Jesus’s capabilities to be at the front of the line. Good sheep will never follow a stranger, they would run away, they would not recognise his voice. A good sheep listens to the Shepherd, obeys the Shepherd and trusts the Shepherd.

Good sheep listen

Jesus said I am the Good Shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me. As good sheep we should be quick to listen to our shepherd and quick to do what we hear. I find that the lag time between what I know I ought to do as a Christian to when I actually do what I ought depends on my willingness to submit to God’s will. The areas of my life that are fully submitted to God present no challenges in listening to the shepherd. But the areas where I think I know better or I have suffered defeat, pain or rejection, the struggle to listen or even give the appearance of listening is real!

Obey the Good Shepherd

While Jesus was on earth, He purposed to obey the commandments from His Father and He encouraged us to do the same. Jesus encouraged us to keep His commandments that we may abide by His love. Good sheep obey the commands issued to them by the Good Shepherd. Once we have established that we heard our shepherd then we should honour the relationship by obeying what He says.

Good sheep trust

It is interesting the number of times the issue of trust comes up in my dealings with God. I am intrigued by how trust is a factor that can dictate the quality of relationship I have with my heavenly Father. I would like to believe that I have grown in my Christian walk since I wrote my first blog article which was on trust. I wrote that article before my husband and the ‘love of my life‘ passed away. I can sincerely say that since then I have come to trust God more. I believe when He says, He will never leave me nor forsake Him. I believe Him when He says joy comes in the morning.