Winning people back "James-5-style"

[mzobec]

„Go back out and don’t come home without it (the sheep).“ That sentence alone would have had enough power to convict my heart on Day 11. While in no way anybody today would praise the pedagogic value of the sentence, it is exactly the charge I as a pastor need to hear. Wer ARE responsible to the flock we have been entrusted with.
However, I am not really good with the sheep that ran astray. It is not that I don’t care for them, it is just that I tend to forget about them as more new sheep are gathered into the flock continually. I know for a fact that in our church people of our flock have wandered astray and joined other men who answered their itching ears, „seeking pleasure over one hill or another.“ I feel two things simultaneously: 1) a heavy burden towards them and their lostness and 2) an embarrassing relief. „I don’t have to deal with them any longer. Let someone else worry about them.“ This is an honest statement but surely not shepherding at it’s very best.
The Ezekiel Scripture tells of a whole profession that was only really an empty profession without heart, desire and passion for the lost. Sheep run away for many reasons. Rebellion, discontent, sin. But sometimes their running away is made possible by weak leadership that is not worthy to be called leadership at all, but complacency, satisfaction with too little, indifference and many other things. (We could go further here with Day 15 and Day 16 about he protection and care of the sheep.)
But it is so rewarding and so achievable to help people turn around „James 5:19-20 style“. Could I be so easily satisfied with too little, because I myself am not experiencing the leading of God because I have wandered off? How can I expect myself to be good leader for easily distracted and confused flock, if I myself am in no way different?
So I propose to myself that I should want to be guided by God in all facets of my life and in all of my character and imprintings. Then I may reach the goal to be a true shepherd leader in the eyes of God who will weep over those that left the flock. I pray that I shall not simply be burdened by the weight of the loss but receive a new ignition of passion to reach out and bring back.