54 - Good Shepherds

I have no idea what the number might be, but I know it's sizeable. How many people have walked away, not only from the church of Jesus Christ, but from God Himself, not because of something God did, but because of ungodly leaders? Lying, abuse of power, double-standards, slander, ambition, lovelessness, false doctrine, financial dishonesty, sexual immorality, etc. have often been the cause of a loss of trust. But in other cases it wasn't a lack of character; it was the exhaustion of trying to follow incompetence or the boredom of shallow teaching that undermined respect, not only for a particular troubled leader but for the Lord's church in general. If you talk to such people they often ask, “Why wasn't something done about it? Where were the elders? Where was the fear of God? If people who are supposedly so close to God can do something like that, then where is the miraculous change of heart we've been told takes place when someone believes in Jesus Christ?”

Those and many more questions like them can keep echoing through a person's mind long after they have been betrayed by church leadership. Painful memories can leave that person in the grip of a deep abiding fear that to come back to God risks falling prey to such people again. The problem is as old as time. Humans have always misused religion. Yet each of us still needs to be part of God's family. We're not designed to function alone. We need shepherds, healthy, God-fearing leaders to heal, protect and train us. That's why every one of us has to find our way between two dangers: the fear of following the wrong humans and the loneliness of not following the right ones. 

Is there a way to identify “good shepherds”? Can we be sure that we are following the right ones? If we can answer that question, there are a lot of lost sheep that can come home. Let's listen to Jesus' answer.