“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
Romans 8:29 (NIV)
God loves us as we are, but He also sees our potential, since we are all brothers and sisters of Christ. He wants to mold and conform us into the image of His son, to make us the best version of ourselves. We were made for much more than we realize, and God uses everything that happens in our lives, whether good or bad, as part of a process to transform and renew our minds.
It’s natural to ask God to remove or change the problem situations, but what if He is using that situation to transform and change us for the good? Even through the most painful experiences, the Lord wants to renew our minds and conform us to Christ, as today’s scripture tells us.
The Lord brings out the shepherd like tendencies that are already deep within each of us. If Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, and we are being conformed to His image, that makes us His mini shepherds. Whether we know it or not, those shepherd like tendencies give us the urge to seek, lead and nurture God’s sheep.
When we find ourself praying for the sick, comforting the broken, visiting the lonely or redirecting lost sheep, God is bringing the mini shepherd out in us, by sending sheep into our pasture.
After my husband died, I thought about people who were caregivers like me. Three years later my friend passed away within three months of her cancer diagnosis. I felt called to be a good friend to her to the end, but often wondered why God allowed so much loss within such a short period of time.
God uses all kinds of adversity to further transform us into mini shepherds. The Holy Spirit is constantly renewing our minds, and conforming us into the image of Jesus, the Chief Shepherd.
My adult son, Jon, has been living in a Nursing Facility with a serious brain injury, since his motorcycle accident in 2023. When I first started visiting each week, I looked around the Community Day room and saw many people sitting alone, like lost sheep who never receive a visitor.
Then the words of Jesus came into my mind, “I was sick and you visited me”. (Matthew 25:36)
I realized from that moment on, that those Nursing home residents were the sheep that God brought into my pasture.
Mother Teresa is one of the best examples of a human person who shepherded anyone who came into her pasture. It’s estimated that she cradled in her arms about 16,000 dying people in Calcutta over the span of her ministry.
Someone once asked her how she converted so many dying people, since they only knew the religions of India. She said that she would ask each person as they were dying in her arms, “Do you want to give your life to Christ ?” and they responded the same way, asking,
“Who is Christ, is He like you?”
Their response is the essence of our Christian faith. God intended for us to live in such a way that others could see Christ in us. The people she held in her arms never heard the gospel or read one single verse of scripture, but they gladly received Jesus Christ, because they saw Him through her.
We are all mini shepherds of Jesus in this world and though we don’t have to do it at the same scale as Mother Teresa did, we still can become His eyes, hands, feet, and mouth on earth, until He returns.
There are sheep who God has sent into our pasture, who are looking at us today and wondering,
“Who is Christ? Is He like you?”
Lord, renew our minds and help us to be your mini shepherds, and to see people through your eyes, so that they can see You in us.
