Youth Lesson, ‘Sheep, The Innocent Wanderers’
May 14.
I enjoyed this video on sheep. I think the group will too. The graphics are grand
and zany. The clip traces, in brief, the Genesis to Revelation rescue operation of
the Great Shepherd, God, and his only begotten son, Jesus.
Sheep, well, they are not the mensa students of the Animal Kingdom. As the old
Gospel song says, “Lord, I’m prone to wander.” It is not a high compliment for us
to be called a sheep but that’s how all of us are described in Scripture.
I doubt if youth, unless they are in 4-H, have hung around sheep. Sheep are prone
to wander, drift, have anxiety attacks, and are easy pickin’s for others in the
animal kingdom.
What causes us to lose track of God? We are busy folk. All of us. And sometimes
we just plain drift. The ancients had a word for it. They called it sloth. For fun, you
might want to look up and see what a sloth looks like. Basically, sloth is spiritual
indifference: whatever, yawn, ho-hum-what’s on NetFlicks now?
The antidote for sloth is finding, listening, and praying what under heaven’s blue
sky you are here for: your call. From God.
The lesson lifts up the love and sacrificial care the shepherd has for the sheep.
There are enemies out there. The shepherd not only goes looking for the lost
sheep, he (or she-as in SHEpherd) risks to go and find them. In the cartoon the
shepherd hauls the sheep home. Those critters were not light - try hauling two
solar salt bags from your house to the grocery store and you’ll see.
Think of the God of the Bible. How incredibly unique. God doesn’t wait for us to
be good enough, big enough, strong enough, or whatever before he seeks us out.
He carries out the rescue operation to have life with him so we can live, love and
serve. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. Amen.
When have you drifted? Teachers? When have you drifted from God or maybe, if
you’re up to sharing and it is appropriate, been a rebellious sheep? How has God
found you?