Excerpt from John 10:1-10
"Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them."
Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell
I don't remember what they were talking about, but at General Synod a few years ago, someone said something disparaging about being a sheep. Someone else stepped to the mic and said, "I don't mind being a sheep if I trust the Shepherd." It struck me as a very un-American thing to say.
I liked it.
I like being an American, too, and I like what our best ideals have made us. One ideal that I'm not so keen on, however, is our individualism. Somewhere in our DNA, the "I'm not going to let a despot force me to do stuff" gene mutated and became the "I'm not going to let anybody tell me what do to, ever" gene. We bristle at authority, we hate bosses, we resent anybody telling us what’s good for us—even when they’re totally right.
The problem with that way of thinking is that it basically sets you up as the head of all creation. Do you really think you have the stuff for that job? Or is it maybe just a little bit above your pay grade?
I'm not saying you need to bow down to every authority figure that walks by. I'm just saying that refusing to bow down to anyone means you're actually bowing down to yourself.
I'm just saying that if the Shepherd is good enough, it's totally worth being called a sheep.
Prayer
God, you know I wouldn't be a sheep for anybody but you. So help me to do it well. Amen.
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