Other Sheep

Good Morning,

John 10:16 (NRSV)
Jesus said, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."

So, in my mind I heard something along the lines of, "Who will bring knowledge of me and who will be my voice today so that all can listen? So that all will be of the one fold?"

Jesus wants ALL the sheep, no matter where they are nor to what "fold" they might belong to at the present time, to hear His voice and to come into His fold. God wants ONE flock and, as we know quite well, there really is only ONE true Shepherd.

So, I ask as I was asked, who will be the ones to share Jesus' voice to those outside His fold? Of course, the answer is obvious. It would be me. It would be you. It would be every believer who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Now, if we will all agree that WE are the ones to be His voice today; if we agree that we are ALL called to speak to those outside our Christian family, then, why don't we do it? Why are we so silent? Why do our tongues seem to be tied when it comes to sharing the Gospel message? Why aren't we being Jesus' voice?

Of course, I can't answer that for you, can I? And, certainly you can't answer that for me. And, I'll tell you the truth here, I don't really understand why I'm not more vocal and obedient in speaking up loud and clear so that people will be open to hearing Jesus' voice and thus becoming sheep in His fold.

It would seem a bit redundant to go into all of the various and sundry "reasons" (read excuses here, I would think) that we can come up with as to why we're silent when we should be shouting. We've all heard them before, I'm sure. Probably even many, many times. We've all even agreed that we ought to put those "reasons" aside and do a better job of speaking out. Yet, we are still little more than silent.

I guess what God is doing today is reminding us of what we OUGHT to be doing for Him in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ and God's plan of salvation. He's telling us that those outside Jesus' fold need to hear His voice. He's clearly saying that we are the ones to bring knowledge of Jesus to a lost and dying world. For, without us bringing knowledge of Jesus, how will people hear His voice?

Love, peace, and blessings,

David