Feed “My” Sheep....Jesus

Feed “My” Sheep....Jesus

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Scriptures to read: John 21:15-22; Matthew 28:18-20

After Jesus was resurrected, He spent some “quality” time with His disciples. When He had eaten breakfast with the disciples, He took Peter aside and had a “one-on-one” conversation with him.  He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” When Peter responded, Jesus told him to “feed and tend my sheep”.     A pretty tall order.  Here was a fisherman who had just “dropped the ball” when he denied Jesus.  He had just let down his Lord. It's probably safe to say that he wasn't feeling up to the task that Jesus was putting before him.

Points that we can see in these verses....

1. Jesus told Peter to feed “His” sheep, not feed Peter's sheep. Jesus was still retaining the final responsibility for His sheep, not turning that responsibility over to Peter.
2.  Jesus was restoring Peter to what He was calling him to, not counting Peter's sin of denial against him.  It (Peter's sin) had been dealt with at the cross.
3. Peter's responsibility would be to nurture and feed the sheep.

If we have children, this is also the task that God calls each of us to. A pretty “daunting” task.

But once we receive Christ as Lord and Savior, we begin to follow Him. Read His word. Seek Him. As we are following Jesus, He will lead us and teach us how to feed those sheep that He has put under our care and entrusted us with.

You may be wondering....Where do I start? A good place to start might be doing a family devotional 3 to 5 times a week possibly during or right after dinner. Maybe you can only do it once a week at first. That's ok, God will honor that. And it doesn't have to last for an hour or even a half hour. A few minutes at a time with a prayer before would be good.

Here are some practical suggestions for devotional resources:

- Greg Laurie's Devotional at http://www.harvest.org/devotional/

- In Touch Devotional with Charles Stanley at http://www.intouch.org/magazine/daily-devotion

- RBC Ministries Daily Devotional at http://odb.org

RBC Minsitries will be more than happy to deliver a paper booklet with daily devotionals if you request it from them. The link to their website above has a link to get the booklet mailed directly to your home.

It may seem hard at first, if you've never done something like this on a daily basis. But don't be discouraged. Trust God and lay it before Him. He loves you and He loves those sheep that He has placed in your care. He will equip you to do His will.

In Christ our Lord,

Don