One day, if you are a believer...after you have passed through this life and Christ has claimed you as His before the Father....after Christ's righteousness alone has secured your eternity and your name is found in the Lamb's Book of Life....you may look around.
And perhaps be shocked. Maybe confused. For you will find other sheep that belong to the Shepherd that *you* never counted on. People who looked and acted so differently than you and yours. People who worshiped differently, who sang different songs and held onto small points of dogma that you didn't approve of. People that you had felt sure weren't "going to make the list"....now standing in the radiance of God, singing "Holy, Holy, Holy."
But you see....it's not their differences that mattered at all, in the end. What will count, what will bind, is the simple love of God and trust in Christ that they held, and that they showed to their neighbors. That they lived in trust and faith and that they lived shaped by Christ's love. Maybe you never saw that love....but God did. While you were busy condemning them on surface matters, God saw their heart and called them His.
Friend, there will be those wearing the title of Christ's redeemed that will see *us* and pause. Who do a double take because we are in that number. Who maybe wrinkle a brow in confusion that we, too, belong to the One who paid a great price to secure us.
Remember, in His Kingdom, there will be both Moses and Elijah..and the thief who hung on a cross. Great prophets and warriors of God next to prostitutes redeemed. Saints who changed the world, and shy, seemingly unremarkable men and women who lived quiet lives of faith and prayer. Martyrs next to those that lived in security.
And none of us will deserve to be there.
None.
Not one.
We shall all wonder and marvel at the vastness of Christ's grace and mercy, that we should be saved by such, and that His love includes even (and especially) those we overlooked or dismissed. Truly then, we will all be humbled and sing praises to the Lamb and His excessive and extravagant love.
Christ has many sheep, whom He loves tenderly and guides with devoted care. We don't always recognize each other in this life of conflict, toil and trauma. But that's okay, because He knows us. He calls us. He redeems us by His unfathomable mercy.
Let us live then, in such an open and authentic way, that we invite others to know our Lord and King.
Let us love in such a way that His love shines through us in an ever darkening world.
Let us be mindful that His flock is all around us, and that when we talk to, or about, another person, that they may be one that hears the Shepherd's call; that they are as loved as we and secured by the same great sacrifice of the Cross.
We shouldn't trying to keep other sheep out of the fold nor acting as if we get the call of who deserves to be there. Christ knows His own, calls His own, redeems His own. Let's just be thankful we're amongst the number.
Be blessed, my friends, and may you be a blessing unto someone else.
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