Contract to Contact

[jcross]

To lead is to shepherd and to shepherd is to steward. This stewardship entrusted to us by God is the nurturing care of His flock. The call to servant leadership is a call to protect, feed and when necessary, to heal. This is the heart of Jesus. We have His heart and we are His hands. The care is now in our hands by the power of the Spirit.

Unfaithful shepherds neglect the flock. Choosing their own comfort and well being they refuse to see or act. To be a faithful shepherd however is to see and act. To be a faithful healer is to examine and contact. Hebrews 13:17 reminds to sheep to "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." God has told the sheep that they are being watched and cared for. God has expectations of His leaders and that pertains to watching over the souls (and lives) of the sheep. We need to be in touch and then to touch.

Before God we have this contract to contact. We have the ministry of compassion that exercises itself in word and touch. Out of the office, out of the safety of our niches and into the lives and workplaces and experiences of our flock we must go. We watch, we ask questions, we spend time together. Caring brings us this promise from 1 Peter 5:4, "when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." Affliction comes to the flock but comfort and healing flows from the heart and hand of God to His undershepherds and into the lives of His sheep.