Stuck!

In the last few weeks I have been stuck… stuck in a writer’s block. As a joke I decided to blog about being stuck. Ironically it got me out of being stuck. Actually, it triggered me into thinking about being stuck.

Recently my connect group (aka Sunday School class) begun a study based on the book Radical by David Platt. Last Sunday I taught the chapter titled “How Much Is Enough?” The focus passage was from Matthew 25:31-46. You might be familiar with it where Jesus taught that when we all appear before Him on Judgment Day He will separate the sheep from the goats. I made the following three interesting observations:

1. Everyone will appear before Christ, whether they have been saved by grace through Christ or they have rejected Him all their lives. There is no avoidance or appeal process. The decisions made in this life will be actualized in the one to come. It only makes logical sense that for those who have rejected Christ as their Lord and Savior in this life to spend eternity away from Him. Why would or should Jesus force someone to spend eternity under His Kingship if they refused His Lordship here on earth. That would be an infinitely cruel thing to do. C.S. Lewis once said that in the end there are two types of people, those who said to God “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “your will be done.”
2. The “sheep” were oblivious to Jesus’ presence because they had been meeting the needs of the afflicted, not because they knew they were serving Him by doing so. Rather because they served Jesus, it was natural for them to meet needs.
3. The “goats” were looking for Jesus’ presence so they can show Him their faithfulness by meeting the needs of the afflicted. In reality those who do not meet the needs of the afflicted are not Christ-followers. This is not to say that Jesus made it our prime objective to eradication of poverty. As matter of fact, God recognizes that we will always have the poor and the afflicted in this world (Deuteronomy 15:11 and Matthew 26:11). The central issue is and always will be salvation. What good is it to eliminate poverty and starvation if on that Day of Judgment these same well fed people went to their eternal destiny in Hell to suffer everlasting torment?

However, the nagging issue (and thus the title of my blog) for the “sheep” is that often we are stuck in between knowledge and application, much like the picture you see here. Jesus said that His sheep hear and follow Him, and He knows they individually (John 10:26-29). This hearing implies Jesus the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) is speaking… there is a good reason why He did not refer to Himself as the Good “Goat-Whisperer.” If the Shepherd is indeed speaking, what is He saying to you? Hearing implies more than just receiving sounds, but rather it penetrates the heart of a person and allows it to mold the person. The following is the obvious and inevitable result of genuine hearing.

Are we in the position to listen when the Good Shepherd speaks so we can act upon His command? In order to do so, it means we must be in close proximity of the Shepherd. Goats can also hear but their problem is in the following. They are stubborn and independent, but there is one way to get them to follow; to dangle something they desire in front of them and they will follow even to their own destruction.

I am painfully aware that usually a lesson is just a lesson if there are no practical applications… it is just an intellectual exercise. In effect as sheep we end up looking like the one pictured… stuck going from knowledge to application. I venture to say that the reason we are “stuck” is because mostly we are trying to “muster up” activities on His behalf. Essentially we are trying to draw attention to the Shepherd to look our way so we can prove how dedicated we are to Him. However, I have come to realize that He is consistently speaking to us. We don’t have to come up with the “what” if we only listen and look for opportunities He already placed before us… that somehow intersect with our passion. I don’t know how that works, but then again, we rarely know how God works other than He does amazing work. The trouble is at times we act more like the goats than sheep that we are and we miss both the hearing and following… we are stuck!

That is where I have been these last few weeks. I was more interesting in the doing instead of the hearing and following… why “doing” isn’t even on the list. However I am there no longer. Today I am positioning myself next to the Good Shepherd so when He speaks I am ready to act. Where are you in His pasture?