“The LORD is my Shepherd…” (Psalm 23:1).

The LORD…That’s the right place to start.

The meaning of life does not originate with us, but with the LORD. He is after all the LORD. The LORD is the creator, the originator, and the sustainer of all of creation. Not only is the LORD the right place to start, but remember that he is the LORD. Christians have a tendency to use this title as a name and we forget that every time we call him LORD, it means that he is LORD. If he is the LORD, the Christian is never even wondering about obedience. Obedience is a given. Why? He is LORD!

The LORD…That’s a great place to start.

The LORD is my Shepherd.

The first rule for sheep – YOU ARE NOT THE SHEPHERD!!! I wrote that in all caps because we forget this all the time. Not only do we forget that he is LORD, but we forget that we are not the Shepherd. We are sheep. This means we can only do sheep things and when we try to do something beyond sheep capacity we are miserable, frightened, and disappointed.

You want to be a contented and happy sheep? Remember you are sheep. You are not the Shepherd. We have a Shepherd and he is our LORD. Let the LORD take care of Shepherd things and our job is to follow him and do what he tells us to do. That’s our job. You do that, you’re going to be a contented and blessed sheep.

The LORD is my Shepherd…I love that!

Don’t just attend your church…

• Love your church
• Serve your church
• Give to your church
• Invite people to your church
• Post about your church
• Engage with people at your church
  and participate in things going on in your church

By Brandon Scalf

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

Because of all that Jesus has done…
Because Jesus has set us free from the bondage of sin and death…
We are prisoners for the Lord.

As such, because of all that Jesus has done for us, we are called to live a life worthy of our calling. How do we do that? Aren’t you glad that the Bible tells us? “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

We demonstrate our service to Jesus by humbling ourselves and choosing gentleness with others by bearing with one another in love.

It’s interesting that the word there isn’t just to be humble and gentle by loving one another. No. Another word is added there that amplifies what God desires for us to do – “bearing” with one another in love.

What does that look like?

Brother Curtis Alenquist of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston writes: In many circumstances of life, we end up sharing life with people we would not have chosen, some of whom we inevitably find quite challenging. The monastic tradition has a name for these sometimes-quite-difficult people: TEACHERS. They teach us about ourselves; they expose us to what otherwise we may not see in ourselves or show to others.

Teachers.

We are to love one another by bearing with one another because there are lessons yet to be learned that will only come through the presence of our TEACHERS.