Dear friends, I hope our gracious Lord is done with this spring snow.  This is the first year I can remember that "snow" has become a four-letter word around our house.  Then again we're finding that the word "move" can be one too.  But thank the Lord for occasional moving!  It has definite and good purposes.  Aside from the obvious, it's a great time to toss out the old stuff and make room for new.  Between the garbage man and next month's Epiphany Garage Sale, Carol and I will be moving far fewer items to Castle Rock than we now have in Littleton.

          But what makes us value the things we have?  Recently Carol watched a short TV show in which an expert appraised old things people brought in to see what they were worth.  This episode featured a Van Briggle vase made about 80 years ago in Colorado Springs that was worth nearly $2,000.  The next day as she was putting some items in a box for Epiphany's Garage Sale she came across a heavy old wine-brown vase given to her years ago, one she never really liked.  Recalling that TV show, she turned it upside down and discovered it was a genuine Van Briggle!  We're having it appraised and it appears to be worth several hundred dollars.  Carol still thinks it's an ugly vase, but she's treating it with a lot more respect now.  And while it won't be in the Epiphany Garage Sale, consider what other hidden treasures you might find there!

          What makes people value things?  More importantly, what makes God value us?  Why should He care about us sinful, greedy people?  If you think of it, He has to do everything for us.  He creates life through our parents, giving us a unique appearance, personality and abilities.  He protects us as we grow and gives us ample opportunities to become His children.  While He gives us freedom of choice, our sinful nature never really wants to choose Him, so He offers us faith through the Holy Spirit.

          God sent His only Son to open the doors of heaven to us, and then even pushes us through!  God listens to our prayers that regularly sound like spoiled children whining to their parents and still He provides for our needs.  With all the trouble that we are to Him, what makes us valuable to God?

          I'm not sure I can answer that, except to say how can a parent turn his back on a child?  And how can the Creator turn His back on His creation?  If He didn't value us, we'd all be toast.  The Bible is full of stories where God sent to perdition those who rejected Him.  His judgment on unbelievers is swift and harsh.  People who turn their back on God eventually pay the price.

          Yet, as much as God hates our sin, He still loves us sinners.  The Bible is filled with examples of His love and mercy, that He's always ready to pardon the repentant and give life to the dying.  God cares for His loved ones like the shepherd cares for His sheep, and today on Good Shepherd Sunday, we need to consider for a moment His love towards His sheep.

          "My sheep listen to my voice;"  This is what sheep do.  In everything else, the shepherd does it all for the sheep, but the sheep must first listen.  If they don't hear His voice, they can't be His sheep.  So we, too, must listen to the voice of Christ and follow Him, obeying what He says and being guided to green pastures.  It's most important that we first listen to hear what our Good Shepherd is saying.

          "I know them and they follow me..."  The shepherd knows who are His and who aren't.  He gathers his flock into pens and goes out to round up the strays.  He brings back the lost and keeps them safe.  And Good Shepherd Jesus knows His own, as well.  He brings us back when we stray.

          "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;"  This is unique to the Good Shepherd.  Earthly shepherds help sheep through life, but only the Good Shepherd can give eternal life, a good and godly life that never ends.  We may die, but we'll never perish.  It's His promise.

          "No one can snatch them out of my hand."  We can't be touched!  In 1930 Al Capone ruled Chicago.  His gangsters bullied, beat and killed people to bring in an estimated $50 million annually from his racketeering.  But that year someone else came on the scene.  Elliott Ness, an agent of the US Treasury Dept. put together a task force that put Capone in jail just one year later for tax evasion.  A book, "The Untouchables," tells the whole story, that despite all the money, guns and power, no one is untouchable, not even Elliott Ness, who later met with an untimely death.

          And yet in Christ, we are!  We're all part of God's "Untouchables."  Once we're in the fold, no one can pull us away from the Good Shepherd.  When Christ has us safely in the Christian Church, Satan can't get at us.  He can yell and jeer over the fence, but he can't pull us out.  Only we ourselves can jump the fence or walk out the gate.  But unless we are willing, Jesus' words apply:  "No one can snatch them out of my hand."

          In Jesus Christ we may be scratchable and vulnerable to life's troubles, but we're untouchable for eternity.  "In the world you have troubles, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)  He has, you know, so let's all be lambs and sheep who hear His voice and follow.  Amen

Copyright © 2001 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.