Accountability as a Shepherd....

Don't usually post an image this large, but in order to see the fine detail of a single lost sheep, you almost have to look very close to see it. As I was studying yesterday my studies somehow led me to Ezekiel 33... Ezekiel 33 holds us very accountable as shepherds. I think we all would like to think that only our pastors will be held accountable as a shepherd....but in all reality as a Christ-follower we all have been appointed to shepherd the flock (the lost). And we too will be held accountable for what we do or do not...do. Ezekiel 34 says "woe to the Shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?" It goes on to say in vs 5 "so they were scattered because there was no shepherd." As we see the signs of the times surrounding us, we should be ever more aggressive in tending to the sheep, but it seems the average church today fails so much in doing so. The verses in between are to convicting to us. Ezekiel 34: 3-4 says..."You eat the curds, clothe yourself with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally." The average church is so good at turning away the lost. I heard somewhere the other day that Ghandi actually had made a decision to turn his life over to Christianity from Buddhism but on the very night that he was going to do such....he entered the church ready to listen to the message and meet with the pastor after the service...but upon his entering the front door he was immediately informed that he was not welcome there because of his faith. WHAT did they know of his faith? They only knew what they assumed and by their assumption...Ghandi never came to a relationship with Christ. I am so blessed to be a part of a church that believes in the fact that we are all sinners saved by grace. We have nothing to offer but everything to give. We welcome those that have fallen, as we have been flat on our faces before...we know that pain too well. We embrace the brokenhearted...as our hearts to have been broken. We do not seek out an individuals sin....as it is not ours to judge, we embrace them for who they are in Christ...a sheep without a shepherd. As we go out today, may we see the urgency in the world, may we see the signs and may we not just see people may we see sheep....lost sheep looking for a shepherd. May we lead those very sheep to the rest of the flock. We will be held accountable for all the ones that we lose along the way. Help me Lord to see the sheep that you send my way.