“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” – Psalm 23:1

Is the Lord your shepherd??? This famous verse is a wonderful comfort, but it’s only true if you’ve committed to being His sheep!

His sheep hear His voice, come, follow, and obey. His sheep are content to stay with the flock rather than doing their own thing at their own pace. His sheep understand and accept that if they foolishly wander away He will use that rod and staff to pull them back or gently smack them back into the flock.

His sheep are content to let Him be in control. His sheep are not constantly and willfully trying to make themselves the shepherd. His sheep aren’t trying to get away with stuff when they think the shepherd isn’t looking. His sheep aren’t trying to start a new flock more to their liking. His sheep aren’t busy celebrating their own autonomy. His sheep depend on Him for all things: nourishment, protection, comfort, safety, care, and healing.

The Lord will indeed provide all things if you’re His sheep. Are you?

“Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.’” – Exodus 24:3

We never lack good intentions! We mean well, we really do. Like the Israelites, we commit and re-commit ourselves to being good people and following all the rules. Yet despite our personal determination and commitment to self-discipline, we fail, just like they did. Soon the Israelites would forget everything they just said, heard, and saw with their own eyes, choosing to worship a statue they made themselves as God. We aren’t different.

We make our promises to God, but when we labor in our own strength and energy, we ultimately fail, exhausting and discouraging ourselves in the process. God is perfect. He is perfectly holy, righteous, and good. We simply cannot match up to His standard of perfection – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

What we must learn, and re-learn often, is that we cannot achieve perfection on our own. Only God is perfect, so it required the sacrifice of the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins, so that all who believe in Him can be forgiven and receive the Spirit of God. It is then that God both sees us as perfect (Christ in us) and empowers us to become increasingly like Christ ourselves.

As we learn to live with and by the Spirit within us, we open ourselves for genuine and lasting heart transformation by the power of the Spirit. What is impossible for us is possible for God. By the transforming power of the Spirit, we grow in our holiness and our following of Jesus. By God’s power, and His alone, we increasingly can do what God commands us to do. We will never be perfect this side of the heaven, but God’s grace transforms us when we stop trying to change by our strength and instead deepen our relationship with Him, unleashing His power to change our sinful hearts.

“Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’” – Mark 3:20-21

It’s safe to say that Jesus’ family didn’t understand Him! Prior to His resurrection they were skeptical, going so far as to believe He was crazy and try to stage an intervention! If that happened to Jesus, then we can naturally expect some tension with our own family when we are serious about following Jesus.

Even when your whole family is Christian, there can be tension when you deepen your commitment to truly follow Him rather than merely claiming His name. There can be tension about how you spend your time, your energy, your passion, or your money. There can be tension around career changes, lifestyle changes, and character changes. It’s OK. Jesus makes clear that we must choose Him before any other relationship.

This is a hard message to hear and live! We’re to love, care for, and provide for our families. But these needs aren’t meant to be “balanced” with following Jesus. Following Jesus must be first and foremost. Our care for our families must flow out of our obedience to Jesus. Our culture doesn’t like to hear this truth – we don’t want to admit or explore the tension between family and Christ, but Jesus taught clearly on this subject in the midst of a culture that took family far more seriously than we do today.

In your obedience to Christ, is there at least someone in your family who thinks you’re crazy and taking your Christianity too seriously? If so, you’re in good company. If not, you might need to consider whether you’re following Jesus closely enough!

“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.”
– Exodus 15:13

Today as our culture celebrates various aspects, images, concepts, and distortions of love, we should focus on the model and pattern of all true love: the steadfast, faithful love of God. God’s love is unfailing, rock-solid, and grounded in who He is. Love is an integral part of His nature and isn’t contingent on who we are or what we do.

God’s love is sacrificial. It is costly for Him to love us because of our ongoing sins, shortcomings, and ingratitude. He sacrificed His own Son on a cross, sending Him to die to pay the penalty for our sins, so that by faith we could be restored to a love relationship with God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God’s love is redemptive. He bought our freedom from slavery to sin and death through the death of His Son. The love of God always seeks to raise us up, transform us for the better, and draw us nearer to Him.

God’s love is steadfast. It doesn’t rise and fall with His mood. It doesn’t change with the weather or shift with our behavior. Even when we run away from it for years and fight against it, when we turn back, His love is always waiting in Christ.

As we go about our Valentine’s Day business, understand that we’re called to love others in this same way. It is hard, frustrating, discouraging and also the most wonderful calling in the world! God’s love for us – sacrificial, redemptive, and steadfast – is the model and standard for our love for others. Whether you’re celebrating love for spouse, children, parents, or friends today, are you striving to love them like God loves you?

“They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?’” – Exodus 14:11

Sometimes it can be hard to embrace our God-given future! The past, even when it was degrading, miserable, and full of failure, still tugs at our hearts because we love the familiar, the comfortable, and the known. We re-imagine the drudgery of the past as a mythical golden age, forgetting the bad parts, and we long to return. Too bad!

God seldom calls us to just stay where we are as we are. In calling us to follow Jesus, He calls us to change every day. He calls us to move forward into a future that isn’t clearly understood and is deeply uncomfortable because every step is unfamiliar.

Like the Israelites, when danger looms along our unfamiliar journey of faith into the future, we often fear the worst and long to turn back the clock, retreating into the comfortable past. That isn’t how the world works and that certainly isn’t how God works! There is no going back. In fact, God is most glorified when we move boldly forward into the future, following Jesus into the unknown. Why?

Because it’s as we step into the future, facing new and unfamiliar dangers, that we’re forced to truly walk with God, following Jesus rather than running ahead, lagging behind, or wandering off to the sides. As we follow Jesus into the future, afraid and uncomfortable, we’re forced to truly depend on God rather than ourselves. Our eyes are opened to His active engagement in the world and in our lives. Ultimately we learn that His plans and vision are far greater than ours.

We grow. God is revealed and glorified. It’s a win all around, but it still makes us uncomfortable, afraid, melodramatic, and longing to retreat. That’s why, as we face the future each day, we must remind ourselves of the words of Jesus, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”