Full life - Herding the flock (Part 2)

SUMMARY: To feed God's people, we must do it with love and not obligation. The shepherd must be an example and a watchman, and show mercy to those who have fallen. Feeding also means instructing for communion, praising God, and helping the flock put on the armor of God. We must leave behind pride and clothe ourselves with humility. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and our love for Him must manifest in pasturing His flock. When He asks us if we love Him, we should say yes and be willing to feed His sheep.

How to feed God's people? The apostle Peter gives us the formula "... watching over him, not out of obligation, but voluntarily as God wants; not because of the greed of money, but with sincere desire either as having lordship over those who have been entrusted to them, but by proving to be examples herd. ". (1 Peter 5.2-3).

So the Lord demands of us a very clear mission when it comes to feeding his people: to do it with love; that is what voluntarily means (1 Peter 5.2) and it is what God wants. The feeling of obligation is devoid of passion; Feeding the flock out of sheer commitment will never bring blessing. The shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, warns with fatherly zeal those who treat His flock with meanness and grim authority and exhorts them to be an example within the fold as befits a true shepherd. The Lord wants those who graze to also be watchmen within his people, knowing that some sheep may fall into some dunghill in this world and it will be necessary to lift, clean and love them.