A sheep depends on the shepherd and the flock. The sheep is unselfish. It cannot be centered on itself and survive. This total abandonment of self is what is so hard for modern people. This is why so many identify themselves as a spiritual Christian but do not believe in religion. They do not want to follow any defined rite. They want to do their own thing. Can you call yourself a Christian if you have not been disturbed from the centeredness of your self? Can you be a Christian if you cannot be moved from the intimacy of your self importance?
As a spiritual person, it is easier to seek justice for the poor in the external community and the world than those immediately around us. By doing this, we can care without disturbing the centeredness we have on our self. But it is within that intimacy to our self that we can loose the focus of love towards the circle of those we touch, our friends, family, and community.
If you are really a Christian and accept Christ fully in your heart, then you will have a conversion that is a disturbance of "the me" at the center of your life.
It is at that point that we think we have given our all and then God asks us for more. The demands are not unreasonable, never more than things perfectly deserving of our Lord and Savior, and our creator. These demands again are there to disturb the centeredness of self.
This circle of those we touch is where we are called to be "sheep in the midst of wolves." This is a call for love in action towards those we immediately touch.. It is much more than just being nice to each other. Being nice is good but it is a worldly behavior. Nice is how we act to get people to like us. Nice can be used as a tool to build up our for self centered intimacy. Being nice can take a back seat to being like Jesus.
Christ's message is not to be nice. Jesus asks us to love which is more than just nicety. Jesus' love is kindness and goodness. Kindness and goodness leads to true actions and true attitudes of love towards others In these actions and attitudes we find healthy relationships. In this we find happiness. Truly, happiness springs forth for us and for those around us in these healthy relationships. The kindness and goodness that draws others to us also pulls us away from the intimacy centered on ourselves to others. It makes us sheep and we follow the Good Shepherd.
A sheep is a sheep. It cannot be a wolf. A sheep follows its master's voice and depends upon those around it as well. If the sheep is lost from the flock, it cries out until it is found. The sheep draws others to it and sacrifices the selfishness of a self centered life to followed the voice of the shepherd. This is the call for Christians.
Being a Christian requires sacrifice of self and sometimes it asks for more and more. But when we put our Christianity in the right priority, it turns from something that we struggle to maintain by making sacrifices into a true gift of God's grace. Our Christianity is the kindness and goodness of genuine love expressed in every layer of our lives. It is the unselfishness that has become the core of ourselves.
It is important to work for justice for all people in the world. The ones that we truly touch with our love is our family and the circle of people we touch daily.. What we have for them has a far greater impact than just the immediacy of our kindness and goodness. Our unselfishness now found in our kindness and goodness also touches all those still lost in their self centeredness. This love becomes intimate to everything - our church, our community, and the world. And Christ sends us out as sheep amidst wolves.
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