I love reading aloud to my children. I love reading, and I love my children, so reading to them is a win win in my world. We have read a lot of great books together. We are currently reading Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates. It is the story of a boy named Peter, his cosset Biddy, and his friend Benj, an old shepherd. It is not a book I would have picked out,
but it is an assigned book in our Sonlight homeschooling curriculum.
A little over halfway through the book, Peter and Benj encounter some wolves that have already killed six of their sheep. A trap is set to catch the wolves, and a young runt lamb is used as bait. Old Benj explains the plan to young Peter, who understands.
"To safeguard the farms in the valley, the flock in another summer, the cost of a single lamb would not be considered too much" (Yates, 67).
The Bible is full of references to lambs, sheep, and shepherds. As I read this book, I am reminded of the great gift that was given to us. Our eternal security was bought with the blood of our Lord, the Lamb of God who was slain for us (John 1:29, Revelation 5:6).
I am reminded of our Great Shepherd, who is willing to leave 99 sheep to find ONE lost one (Matthew 18:12-14). When He finds the ONE lost sheep, He is "happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off."
I am reminded of the warning about sheep and goats.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." (Matthew 25:31-33)
I want to be a sheep. In that moment, I want to be on my Shepherd's right side. I have accepted the gift of the Lamb. I know He was slain because of the ugliness of MY sins. I was the ONE that was lost, and He rejoiced when I was found.
But I am not dead yet. My life in not over. While I still have breath in my lungs and life in my blood, I want to live pleasing my Father.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’" (Matthew 25:34-36)
I want to live doing for the "least of these." Because some of them are the lost sheep, and I know the Great Shepherd.
I want to be a sheep.
