Follow the Leader

A man doesn't like to be called a "sheep." At least this man doesn't. As one of my friends once said "sheep are smelly and stupid." I don't know a lot about sheep, but I do know they are smelly. Stupid? I don't spend a lot of time around them to know about that. But I really don't like to be compared to a smelly, small animal that gives its fur up for clothing.

But that is what Jesus calls us in John 10.

Sheep.

What good is that? I don't want to really be known as a sheep. I know that I do want to be a follower of Christ. But why does He have to call me a sheep?

I much rather be called something like a "trooper" - like one of the 17 men that follow the jump master out of the C-47 in the U.S. Airborne.

But maybe that is pretty much the same thing. The 17 men that followed the jump master did so like sheep following a shepherd. They didn't know what could happen once they went out the door, they only knew that the men around them were counting on them to jump.

Christ is our leader. He calls Himself the "Good Shepherd." That would make His followers "sheep."

So that's what I'll be. I may not like the analogy, but it fits. I'm going to follow Christ wherever He leads because He's counting on me and the troops .... that is, the sheep, around me are counting on me and I don't want to let them down.

I will follow Christ. He knows where He's going. And He's leading from the front. He's the first one out the door. He's been there before. I may be afraid, but there's no reason to really fear because I know my Leader, my Shepherd, will get me through.