THE HERD INSTINCT

This article was birthed by my reading of the daily devotional in Our Daily Bread on Tues April 17, 2007. The writer, Mart De Haan, told the story of a flock of sheep that mindlessly followed one another over a cliff to their death! Sheep are known to be easily influenced to follow the flock, without considering the potential outcome. The scriptures often compare us to sheep, and our need of a shepherd's care. (John 10:1-18)

Like sheep we are all easily influenced by others. Just think of how many companies are trying to get our attention daily through advertising for the purpose of buying their particular products. They know that a certain number of people will respond to their adds and buy their products, so they are willing to invest big bucks in this attempt to influence us.

In the spiritual realm we have an enemy who is constantly trying to influence us to follow him instead of following Jesus. He is given many titles in scripture that indicate his intentions, one important name for him is "deceiver", because he is an expert at deception. Jesus warns us of the danger of being deceived in these last days. (Matt 24:4, 5, and 11) Paul also warned us of this danger in (2 Thess 2:5-12), this is a very challenging passage of scripture for us who are living in this period of time. We need to read the passage in John 10 carefully and make sure that we have made Jesus our"Good Shepherd". He is the only one who can protect us from following other voices of influence.

So the bottom line is the questions asked by Mart in his article mentioned above "Whom are we following? One another? Self-centered shepherds? Or the voice and direction of the Good Shepherd?" He closed his article with these words from an old hymn.

"Savior like a shepherd lead us,

Much we need Thy tender care;

In Thy pleasant pastures feed us,

For our use Thy folds prepare." ---Thrupp

The tendency to follow the crowd today in our world is huge! Let's listen for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, who will never lead us astray!

Follow Christ, not the crowd!

Sincerely submitted

Gramp