Lost

Hi, all!! Hope everyone reading this has been well. And if you haven't, I hope that you've still been able to rejoice in the Lord's unforseen plan, and goodness!

A couple of blog posts ago I talked a little bit about a struggle I had been having for over a year regarding forgiveness, and trying to understand God. Click here to read the entire post.

I've been really reflecting on my journey recently, because I still don't have all of the answers, but I'm finding them. Afterall, "he who seeks Me, will find Me", and I believe that wholeheartedly. But, you know, somewhere along the way, I wondered if the fact that I was looking  for answers about a faith that I've had for years even made me a "good Christian". Afterall, I didn't know a lot of people who were asking the same questions I was. So, did that make me a freak or did that mean I was fooling myself on who I thought I was in Christ?

I don't know if any of you have ever faced those questions, but I'm about to tell you how warped that mindset is.

Churches, youth groups, Bible studies, and a number of others have this thing for talking about the crucifixion and that our sins are forgiven. I'm not disagreeing. I believe Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world and that He died for the human race so we can be restored back to God and have that relationship. That's the foundation of our faith.

It is the foundation. Christ's death and resurrection is what we base our lives on. Christ is the reason we have life, and how we're born again. He took His sins upon Himself so we can be free from them and serve Him wholeheartedly. He modeled a life that we're supposed to live. Typically, we like to park here and just beat the subject to death. For what purpose, I don't know. But, it's crippling us.

We're taught that we're forgiven, we're not perfect, Christ has freed us, we should tell others about Him, we're holy & righteous through Christ's blood, we're made new, etc., but there's a certain word that's not often preached about that is also a huge part of who we are. There's a word that Christ gives us in such a loving manner, that we should be embracing it and running with it.

That word is sheep.

We are sheep. I am a sheep. You are a sheep. And what are sheep without a shepherd? Lost.

"When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harrassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Matt. 9:36

Sheep follow their shepherd. We follow Christ. Without Him, we are nothing, therefore, we are lost.

I know we've all heard that. It's the verse we use when we're trying to bring people to Christ. But somehow, that label falls off when we become Christians because we've found our shepherd and BAM we're no longer lost.

I disagree. Shepherds typically do not stay in the same place. They herd their sheep from one place to the next. So, why are we not moving? Why are we staying in the same place? We are still sheep afterall, and still lost without a shepherd. And yet, we park our lives at the Gospel and use that as our "feel good", "God has it under control" excuse.

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions." 2 Tim. 4:3

As Christians (aka. Followers of Christ), we should be constantly seeking the Lord, and His purpose for our individual lives. We are sheep. We seek our shepherd. If He moves, we move. Bottom line. It's okay to be lost. We're sheep, we're not supposed to have all the answers. It's time to stop putting a negative spin on being "lost". Jesus did not stop referring to us as sheep once we "found the Shepherd".

"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and they know me," John 10:14

I say it's time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and move on. Our Shepherd is moving and we need to follow Him. Christ did die for our sins, and we should be grateful for that. But, my gosh, we don't need to stay there. That's the beginning. Now we take that and apply it to our lives.

I'm still trying to figure out what that means for my life. I don't have this whole thing figured out (obviously), but I'm looking and will keep looking. My Shepherd has the answer I'm looking for, so He will be the one I seek. After all, I am sheep, and I'm lost without His direction.