The Fold

Sometimes, we wander away. We go chasing something we're certain God would want us to have, even though He has neither called us nor sent us to it, and we expected Him to follow, but He didn't. 

Because He's still got 99 other sheep over there and the whole plan of God was that we would be with them. 

We see this independent streak in ourselves perhaps nowhere more clearly than when discussing our church attendance/membership/commitment. 

More and more, we're seeing folks who have been Christians for a long time, and many who have not, deciding that they don't really need the church to be a Christian. They worship God on their own, and they're happier with their Sundays for other things. 

They don't need the church. Or perhaps they have been hurt by the church. Or perhaps the church has been poisoned by the world. Or maybe there's a personality clash. Or whatever. But somehow, some way, some day, the Christian decides that her faith is strong enough that she doesn't need the church. 

She's all set in the God category. Got it. Still love God, just don't need His people around all the time. 

So she wanders off. 

She finds ways to worship that "suit" her. She discovers new ways to connect with God. She relies on what she's always done and the things she can "fit" into her "lifestyle." She wears the necklace. She plasters the bumper sticker on her car. She might even read her Bible every day and pray faithfully and only stream Christian music and tell everyone she meets how good God is to her. 

But make no mistake - absolutely everyone who has a story like this one wakes up one day and looks around and finds themself alone. Finds themselves not just without other sheep, but without the fundamental nature of the shepherd. 

See, when you leave the flock, you get out from under the shepherd's protection. He's tending His sheep. He's watching His pasture. He knows where the streams are and the best grasses and how to rotate the herd through so that they always get the very best. He never intends to herd you separately from everyone else. He never decides to cultivate a special little place just for you. 

Because you're safer - and so is everyone else - if you're together. You're better off - and so is everyone else - if you're together. The shepherd is most effective if you're together. 

I think this is why we don't see God's glory as much in the world today as we used to, even as recently as a few generations ago. It's because we've got all these solo Christians running around out there, and it's hard to see our great big God when He's always busy chasing single wayward sheep. 

An altar over here, a song over there, an open book in that corner, a soft worship song in that heart. And it's nice. And I'm sure He's happy to do it. But it wasn't the plan. 

The plan was for anyone passing by to be able to look over and see a whole pasture full of sheep - one group, one shepherd - and know right away whose they were. 

We're robbing God of that opportunity. We're robbing Him of that plan. 

Because we decided we didn't really need the other sheep and we wandered away. But what we didn't realize was that the other sheep are kind of a package deal with the shepherd. That's the way He intended it.

(And that's why it doesn't take long for anyone who has left the church to do one of two things: go back to the church or quit the faith altogether.)