The Glory of the Son

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

I learned a phrase many years ago in the Navy that has stayed with me. “Mill about smartly.”  It was used to give direction to a group of sailors who had nothing purposeful to do. This group, being given direction, could not be seen to just be sitting around doing nothing. Nor could they be given the chance to leave the work area (to go on liberty.)  They had to look as if they were really doing something useful, without really doing anything useful. In civilian terminology it’s “look busy.” 

In serving the Lord, have you encountered a time when you felt as if you were a sheep without a shepherd? Perhaps after spending considerable time, effort, and possibly serving in a specific ministry for a prolonged period of time you might have stopped to ask yourself the big question. “Where is this ministry going to?” It is nothing to be ashamed of, it happens. We all reach that point where we just have a question about the relevance, direction, purpose, etc. It happens to all believers. We may reach that point because in carrying out our ministry tasks we are even being challenged or harassed by others. Sadly, this really does happen, even among believers. In either case we hit a point where we are looking for direction, guidance, affirmation, or something to let us know we are going in the right direction. Fortunately we have Jesus as the head of the church.  He is the good shepherd we need to follow. In serving the Lord we need to ask honestly of ourselves if Jesus is really the one being served, or are we serving someone or something else? It is a tough question, but it is a worthwhile question to periodically ask of ourselves and our community of believers. It is too easy to fall into the trap of serving ourselves, or an institution, and not the Lord.   We serve to bring glory to the Son, not glory upon ourselves.  We must seek out in prayer the will of God before we begin serving, during our service and after we are done serving. We need to keep focused on what the Lord would have us do. We need to be aligned with the will of God if we are to succeed. And often when we fail to keep in touch with the will of the Lord we find ourselves at cross-purposes with the Lord. Often we have the “I am pushing a rope” feeling that leads to despair and discouragement. Friends, we have a Savior who has compassion for us because we are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” We have the good shepherd we need to guide us, protect us and sustain us. We have Jesus, and that is all we need to see us through to the end of our journey.

PRAYER: Almighty God, creator of the universe. We serve You O God in all that we do. We seek to bring glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We seek Your will in serving and ask Your blessings upon all that we do in serving You. Help us to avoid the trap of pride in ourselves. Help us to not become self-serving in our serving You. Let humility be our watch-word in all that we do. This we ask in the name of the good shepherd, Your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.