A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 By W. Phillip Keller – Chapter 11 Reflection:
Does your life leave a trail that says to others, “surely goodness and mercy/love shall follow me”? Reflect on what this trail would look like.
Wow! What a convicting chapter. Taking in to account all the love and mercy that the Good Shepherd has poured out for me; Do I then do the same for others? As I follow the trail of goodness and mercy that he leaves for me; Do I also leave a similar path for others? When I am gone; Will I be remembered by the goodness and mercy that I displayed for others?
If I’m honest, I think the answer to these questions depends on who you ask. And that is exactly why I found this chapter so convicting. I think there are certain groups of people who would say ‘absolutely, that guy was full of goodness and mercy’. But on the other hand, I think there are groups of people who might not agree.
I think the most obvious yes on the list would be my family, hopefully, my whole family, but more specifically, my wife and kids. I take my responsibility and calling to lead my family seriously, as all men should. I’ll admit that I don’t lead them perfectly. I fail quite often, but I like to think I’ve hit the mark a time or two. Some examples of what this looks like would be my wife giving her time, talent, and resources to create hats for our church’s baby blessings. My 15-year-old donating his time to serve the kids ministry at our church. My ten-year-old giving his own money, mostly from birthdays and Christmas, to his youth group to benefit families in need. And my seven-year-old gathering his mother and brothers to pray before bed while I am out of town.
Then on the other side of the coin, I think again about the people in my workplace. I think if you were to ask my immediate team members, most of them would tell you that I am a pretty good guy and a hard worker. But I’m not so sure love, or mercy would be in their description. In fact, given the amount of ‘venting’ I’ve recently found myself doing regarding others in my workplace, I think they would be more likely to say that I am bitter and cantankerous than loving. I apologize that I keep going back to this subject, but God has laid on my heart that this is an area where I am lacking and needs work.
If I am to shepherd God’s people, this trail needs more consistency. It’s easy to show goodness and mercy at home and church, but I need to learn to do the same in all aspects of life. That’s not to say that I won’t still fail. Only the Good Shepherd could walk this out perfectly. But if I am to lead others to Him who is the most good, the most loving, the most merciful, then I need to be better at displaying these same qualities to others. Otherwise, how can I even come close to showing them who he is?