11/03/2022
When we are young in Christ, God holds us close to Him, and tends to us like a mother does her child, but as we age in faith we grow spiritually, and our lessons become more difficult, while likewise, the price we pay to learn them increases. So it is that we suffer from time to time, but there is one way that we can reduce the intensity of our trials, and be led gently by the Lord… come to Him with new lambs in Christ. Like a shepherd watches closely over his ewes, so does God watches over us when we come to Him with our young in Jesus.
“He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
Isaiah 40:11 ESV
Our personal walk of faith is one which we are not meant to take alone, but with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and for some portions of our lives of faith we will walk with a human shepherd, and at other times with a lamb in tow. When we begin to think that we depend on no one, and have no obligation to nurture others, then we have lost our way.
“You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.”
Deuteronomy 5:33 ESV
So we are not meant to be alone. A sheep wandering alone in the pasture, separated from the flock, is lost, and becomes easy prey for wolves, lions, and other calamities that await it in the wild. This is the basis for the parable of the lost sheep that Jesus told…
““What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”
Luke 15:4 ESV
But this parable continues on with the shepherd finding his lost sheep, and celebrating as he returns it to the flock…
“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’”
Luke 15:5-6 ESV
When we are separated from other believers we are like the lost sheep, and become easy prey for sin, and Satan. For this reason Jesus searches for us when we are lost, and returns us to the fold. He will not rest until He rescues us, or finds that we have fallen victim to our wandering.
“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Luke 15:7 ESV
So if a lone sheep is found, and lifted to the shoulders of Jesus, how much more intently would He search for a lost ewe with lamb, and how gentle will He handle her when found? We are not meant to be alone, and in fact we are not. Oh, we might feel like we are, but in reality God is with us always, and guides the shepherd to where we are, or us to a lost sheep.
You are asking what this has to do with God leading us gently when we are with a young person of faith, but the explanation is rather simple… we are responsible for nurturing this child in Christ, and are meant to gently and lovingly lead them in the way. For this reason God is gentle with us because we are tasked with nursing, defending, and leading to adulthood, one of His children, and to challenge us mightily (even though it would strengthen our faith) might harm the child in our care.
“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,”
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for our faith in Jesus Christ, and for His sending us out into the world to save the lost. Thank you all the more Father for placing those we lead to you though Christ in our care so that we can mentor them in their childlike faith as they grow to maturity in you. Help us as we help them, and return us to the more difficult lessons of our own faith once we have weaned them sufficiently. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who places a burden on our hearts for your sheep, and cares for them through us. Praised be your name for the gentle hand you place on us as we lead these lambs of yours, and for allowing us to love them as our own. Merciful are you that you treat us this way so as not to harm the young in our care. Wash us in the blood of Jesus and make us clean, and free of sin, so that we can lead your lambs to you through Him. Transform us just as you would have us transform them into the image of Jesus. We pray that when we stand before you in judgement that you will see the face of Jesus, and that our work with your flock will glorify you. Seat us with you for eternity Lord, and set a place for the children that we have mentored in your name do that they can join us there one day… none having been lost.
“This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.””
John 18:9 ESV
Rich Forbes