Every once in a while, a mother sheep—a ewe—will give birth to a lamb and then reject it.
Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away.
These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like their neck is broken. Their spirit is definitely broken.
These lambs are called “bummer lambs.” Unless the shepherd intervenes that lamb will die, rejected and alone.
A good shepherd will take that rejected little one into his home, hand-feed it and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so the bummer can hear his heartbeat.
Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him.
When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first? The bummer. Because that lamb knows the shepherd’s voice intimately.
Understand—It is not that the bummer lamb is loved MORE. It’s simply that the bummer lamb INTIMATELY KNOWS the one who loves it.
There are points in each of our lives that we struggle with worth and value. Every one of us.
It’s a terrible feeling. It’s one of the greatest lies of the enemy of our souls—the lie that we aren’t valuable.
The world values talent, beauty, money, and success, and if we don’t achieve these, we don’t feel like we have worth.
We often know better. Our minds know better, but our hearts may tell us otherwise.
Others my even tell us how important we are to them. Still we place the world’s measuring stick up against our image of ourselves. And we argue and disagree with those who care for us.
But the world is wrong. And we are wrong when we feel worthless.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Ephesians 1:4-5, 7, 11, 13-14 NLT
You are no longer a bummer. The Good Shepherd has loved, chosen, adopted, purchased, forgiven, and identified YOU. As part of God’s own family.
Today, live like someone who is valued by God. Because you are.
That’s worship.
–Pastor Steve.