We live in a world where people are taught that they should strive to be "Number One." Our children are often told, through movies and television that everyone should be a leader and if you don't succeed then you are a looser. I've witnessed grown men throwing tantrums at "Church" baseball games because they made a bad play or their team lost. They couldn't stand to look like losers to those around them.
How do you feel about that? It's a universal problem, sadly, even among church leaders at times. We like to feel that we are of some importance no matter who we are; no one likes to feel they are of less value than others.
A new minister fresh out of school was teaching some children one Sunday morning. He told the children about sheep, that they weren't smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd's job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off and doing dumb things that would get them hurt or killed.
He pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance.
Then the minister put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, "If you are the sheep," He asked, "then who is the shepherd?" (He was pretty obviously indicating himself.)
A silence of a few seconds followed. Then a young visitor said, "Jesus, Jesus is the shepherd." The young minister, obviously caught by surprise, said to the boy, "Well, then, who am I?" The little boy frowned thoughtfully and then said with a shrug, "I guess you must be a sheep dog."
If you want to be brought back to reality, then teach children. As I read this story I immediately thought of Romans 12:3 where Paul wrote, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."(NKJV)
If you feel that you deserve some special form of recognition, think it over. Are you really more important than anyone else? Each of us has a job to do. Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-25 where he says, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (NIV)
Although some might try to give me special titles and accolades, I'm still "just Russ," a Christian, gifted to do a job that some others aren't; no more important than anyone else. In the same way, there are many people qualified to do many things that I can never hope to attain. You see the bottom line is; that I and other ministers are just plain sheep dogs. Trying to do the job God has assigned us, we are trying to protect the sheep of our shepherd, God.
How about you and your relationship to others? Remember Romans 12:3.
Russ Lawson
How do you feel about that? It's a universal problem, sadly, even among church leaders at times. We like to feel that we are of some importance no matter who we are; no one likes to feel they are of less value than others.
A new minister fresh out of school was teaching some children one Sunday morning. He told the children about sheep, that they weren't smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd's job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off and doing dumb things that would get them hurt or killed.
He pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance.
Then the minister put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, "If you are the sheep," He asked, "then who is the shepherd?" (He was pretty obviously indicating himself.)
A silence of a few seconds followed. Then a young visitor said, "Jesus, Jesus is the shepherd." The young minister, obviously caught by surprise, said to the boy, "Well, then, who am I?" The little boy frowned thoughtfully and then said with a shrug, "I guess you must be a sheep dog."
If you want to be brought back to reality, then teach children. As I read this story I immediately thought of Romans 12:3 where Paul wrote, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."(NKJV)
If you feel that you deserve some special form of recognition, think it over. Are you really more important than anyone else? Each of us has a job to do. Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-25 where he says, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (NIV)
Although some might try to give me special titles and accolades, I'm still "just Russ," a Christian, gifted to do a job that some others aren't; no more important than anyone else. In the same way, there are many people qualified to do many things that I can never hope to attain. You see the bottom line is; that I and other ministers are just plain sheep dogs. Trying to do the job God has assigned us, we are trying to protect the sheep of our shepherd, God.
How about you and your relationship to others? Remember Romans 12:3.
Russ Lawson
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