Topic: Remain Like Sheep [Archbishop Margaret E. Benson Idahosa] Above Only Daily Devotional 4 June 2020
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Remain Like Sheep
Matthew 10:16 (KJV) … I send you forth as sheep I the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Matthew 10:16 (GNB) .. I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves.
Matthew 10:16 (CEV) I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves. S be wise as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Psalms 95:7-8 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
We are God’s sheep, Psa. 100:3. When the Bible refers to us being God’s sheep, it is primarily referring to the kind of heart and attitude that we must maintain towards God. That posture eventually affects the way we relate with men. As God’s sheep, we must maintain the heart and attitude of Christ towards God and we must relate with men as Jesus related with men. In John 10:27, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. The way to remain like sheep is to follow Jesus by maintaining his attitude, no matter the temptation or provocation that we face. Do not let the attitude of wolves cause you to start behaving like a wolf.
In Matthew 25:31-40, Jesus describes His sheep as believers who walk in love and treat other believers the same way they would treat Him. Some people appear like sheep outwardly, but they are wolves on the inside. Matthew 7:15-16a says “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits…” Wolves prey and take undue advantage of others, while sheep sacrifice and show love to others. When the disciples wanted Jesus to call down fire on people who did not want to receive Him into their village, the Bible evidences the fact that He “turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them…”, Luke 9:55-56. You should correct and discipline people when they do wrong and you should maintain orderliness always, but you must not let anything cause you to stop waling in love or to stop having the attitude of Christ. Romans 12:21 says, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank You for the ability You have given me to keep hearing Your voice and walking in love like Christ, no matter how I am provoked.
Bible in one year reading plan:
- 2 Chronicles 23-24
- John 15
