The line in this devotion that struck me most was, "A good shepherd has to be shrewd, but he also has to be there." In the last 5 years I have become increasingly involved in ministries outside my own church, sometimes as a speaker but increasingly as a consultant. This has taken me away from home ore than I'd like, but it is only recently that I have begun to see what a toll my absence has taken on my congregation.
I am tempted to defend myself by saying that my congregation's well-being should not depend on me, and technically I'd be right. But I also cannot deny that I miss so much when I am simply absent. I cannot keep watch when I am far from my flock. And those who would steal my sheep (not other churches, but other things to which my people want to give their hearts) do not make appointments. They sneak in when no one is looking.
I am humbled to also remember that they are not my sheep, and I am not the ultimate gatekeeper--Jesus is. When I shepherd my people in a way that does not come through him, I am in effect leading them away from their true Shepherd. I too must come to my sheep in and out of the gate through Jesus--in his name, in his pattern, in his likeness.
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