Nibbled Lost
Read Matthew 18:10-14.
Sheep tend to nibble themselves lost, especially in the desert. They go from tuft of grass to tuft of grass, not paying much attention to what else is going on as they fill themselves up. Before you know it, or before they know it, they are separated from the flock, easy prey for wolves or other predators. If a shepherd isn't vigilant, he or she could easily lose the whole flock. Because sheep tend to nibble themselves lost.
I think that's only one of the reasons (but perhaps one of the most important reasons) Jesus called us sheep (see particularly John 10). We, too, can so easily nibble ourselves lost. We get distracted by the latest thing, the newest fad, the shiniest gadget and before we know it, we look up and we're not where we wanted to be, not where we thought we would end up.
(Before I get hate mail, my wife has repeatedly given me permission to tell the following story, okay?) A few weeks ago, Cathy was headed downstairs to do some cleaning. So she said. I finished up whatever project I was on upstairs and then I went downstairs as well. Not more than five minutes had passed, and where do I find her? In the kitchen, making apple crisp. Now, I'd like to go on record as saying I am perfectly okay with warm, homemade apple crisp, but I asked her what happened to the cleaning she said she was going to do. "Oh," she said, "I got distracted by the apples and thought I should make something with them." Now, the apples were in the freezer, in the garage, nowhere near the cleaning supplies.
Nibbled lost.
To be fair, I often work with four or five browser windows open on my laptop, with my iPhone and iPad close by. I reason that I use each gadget for different purposes (and I do), but I do find it far too easy to be distracted by something on another gadget. When I'm supposed to be working on this project, I end up looking at something else over there.
Nibbled lost.
In daily life, those things may be comical, but in the spiritual life, it can be dangerous, even deadly. The things that distract us spiritually can do damage, much like a predator would do to a sheep. Here's Jesus' point: it's not the Father's will that any of the sheep would be lost, or that any of them would perish. When they have nibbled themselves lost, the good shepherd goes looking for them. In that culture, sometimes the shepherd would find the sheep in time and...sometimes not. Sometimes the will of the shepherd (safety of the sheep) would win and sometimes not.
Jesus is not making a big statement about his Father's will here (though he is saying something about it). Rather, he's calling us to vigilance, to being aware of when we are in danger of nibbling ourselves lost. His Father's will is that none should perish. When one does, when a sheep is lost, it breaks the heart of our Shepherd God. But he has given us the choice: to follow the Shepherd into safety or to nibble ourselves lost.
By the way—which have you chosen?
Sheep tend to nibble themselves lost, especially in the desert. They go from tuft of grass to tuft of grass, not paying much attention to what else is going on as they fill themselves up. Before you know it, or before they know it, they are separated from the flock, easy prey for wolves or other predators. If a shepherd isn't vigilant, he or she could easily lose the whole flock. Because sheep tend to nibble themselves lost.
I think that's only one of the reasons (but perhaps one of the most important reasons) Jesus called us sheep (see particularly John 10). We, too, can so easily nibble ourselves lost. We get distracted by the latest thing, the newest fad, the shiniest gadget and before we know it, we look up and we're not where we wanted to be, not where we thought we would end up.
(Before I get hate mail, my wife has repeatedly given me permission to tell the following story, okay?) A few weeks ago, Cathy was headed downstairs to do some cleaning. So she said. I finished up whatever project I was on upstairs and then I went downstairs as well. Not more than five minutes had passed, and where do I find her? In the kitchen, making apple crisp. Now, I'd like to go on record as saying I am perfectly okay with warm, homemade apple crisp, but I asked her what happened to the cleaning she said she was going to do. "Oh," she said, "I got distracted by the apples and thought I should make something with them." Now, the apples were in the freezer, in the garage, nowhere near the cleaning supplies.
Nibbled lost.
Nibbled lost.
In daily life, those things may be comical, but in the spiritual life, it can be dangerous, even deadly. The things that distract us spiritually can do damage, much like a predator would do to a sheep. Here's Jesus' point: it's not the Father's will that any of the sheep would be lost, or that any of them would perish. When they have nibbled themselves lost, the good shepherd goes looking for them. In that culture, sometimes the shepherd would find the sheep in time and...sometimes not. Sometimes the will of the shepherd (safety of the sheep) would win and sometimes not.
Jesus is not making a big statement about his Father's will here (though he is saying something about it). Rather, he's calling us to vigilance, to being aware of when we are in danger of nibbling ourselves lost. His Father's will is that none should perish. When one does, when a sheep is lost, it breaks the heart of our Shepherd God. But he has given us the choice: to follow the Shepherd into safety or to nibble ourselves lost.
By the way—which have you chosen?
Will this post? I love the example.
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