After a lot of trials of my own, trials of my friends, hardships I've seen people face, and thinking, I've come to the conclusion that we are all a bunch of sheep that have gone astray. Like it says in scripture, "All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own." (Isaiah 53:6) When it comes to our heavenly Father, we have all gone astray from Him in the pursue of finding love like His elsewhere when we know the whole time that we can only get it from Him. And to the people who aren't totally sold out to the idea of God and his amazing divine love, if nothing else, this one thing is true: God is the good shepherd, trust in him, and he will always take care of you.
The cool thing about the whole metaphor of God being the shepherd and us being the sheep is that when you think about it, we have it so easy. God being the shepherd is watching out for the wolves and the other ugly little things that could hurt us while we go along in our busy lives just nibbling on the grass and pooping where we please. In the book of John, chapter 10, verse 11, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." How amazing is that? The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Can you even wrap your head around that? Because I sure can't. What Jesus is saying here is that he loves us so much that he lays down his life for us even though we're just stupid sheep. Whoa!
But when I was out being my rebellious self, going to parties, making bad decisions, totally ignoring our heavenly Father, I was not thinking about how Jesus is the good shepherd and he lays down his life for his sheep, I was thinking how many more shots do I need to take before I forget about how much my life sucks? How many more guys do I need to be with before I feel a little love? When little did I know, God was out there and waiting with His arms wide open for me to fall into them. So while all of us, each and every one, believer and non-believer, stray a little off the path, it's totally easy to just say to our Father, "Lord, I've gone astray and I need some help finding your path again. Please help me." It's just hard to humble ourselves and admit that we've messed up.
But the main thing is, you don't have to fill out an application and be accepted to be a son or daughter of Christ. It's guaranteed upon birth. So even when we do mess up and go astray, like we are guaranteed to do at least once in a while, all we need to do is lay out all your dirty laundry to God and ask for forgiveness and guidance to clean up your mess. Jesus loves you, with all of his heart, and you were not a mistake :)
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," Jeremiah 1:5
God bless you!
