Shepherds

Dear brothers and sisters, honour those who are your leaders in the Lord's work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.  (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 NLT)

I remember when I was young, my father would take me to our village in the north of Lebanon.  We would walk together in the mountains.  It was beautiful. 

I distinctly remember seeing shepherds tending to their sheep, walking countless hours to find land where their sheep could eat.  They would struggle all day in the heat just to make sure their sheep were well fed.  My father told me that although nowadays society looks down on shepherds, they deserve the greatest respect.  He said these shepherds spend their whole life taking care of the sheep.  They protect them from wild animals at night, and they would stand in the face of danger in a heartbeat, no matter how great the threat was.  If one sheep went astray, they would turn the land upside down just to find it.  The sheep don't even know what the shepherd has to go through just to keep them alive.

So why am I talking about shepherds?

You see our leaders are like shepherds: they give their lives for their flock, just like Jesus gave his life for us.  I'm so thankful for my leaders.  They work day and night just to make sure we're spiritually fed. 

Maybe there have been times when I didn't understand their direction, or maybe there have been days when their advice confused me, but what I do know is that they are fighting for me.  What I do know is they have spent nights on their knees praying for me.  What I do know is that their prayers have carried me through attacks of the enemy that I’m not even aware of.

My leaders have been there for me in my hardest times, and they are the first people to show up when circumstances get tough.  We should love our leaders with all our hearts, and have the utmost respect and honour towards them.  We should always support them because God has chosen them to be our leaders, and if God has chosen them, it's because they have been faithful and obedient and have qualified themselves for such a great responsibility.  Let us always be a helping hand and not a burden, because they carry an important responsibility, the responsibility of a shepherd.

Are you truly thankful for your leaders?