"THE SHEEP, THE GOAT AND THE WOLF"
Pastors, please protect your time, and the flock! The heart of a good pastor wants to reach out to people, touch their lives, and heal them. A true pastor has a burning love for people. As I meet some of the most precious men and women of God serving God in our time, I have come to see that many of them suffer too much in the hands of those that they love. People waste their time, accuse them wrongly, and show little or no appreciation for their efforts. Please review the tasks of a good shepherd in Psalms 23 along with this piece. I have also come to understand that many precious pastors make no distinction between the sheep, the goat, and the wolves. The tolerate wolves, spend too much time with goats, and spoil the sheep! Some have actually not taken the time to consciously plan how to approach these three kinds of people THE SHEEP - The sheep hears and recognizes the shepherd's voice - The sheep looks up to the shepherd and strives to follow the master's direction - The sheep trusts the shepherd and rests confidently when the shepherd is around - If the sheep strays, the sheperd's correction comes as a relief, and the sheep feels happy to be found - The sheep feels a special personal connection to the shepherd, and to the fold THE GOAT - The goat may look innocent at first, but make no mistake! There is nothing innocent about the self-willed, self-centered, and attention-hunting spirit of this being! - The goat resists instructions. While the sheep may attend counseling sessions to get direction, goats show up with their minds made up and what they want to do. They only hope that the shepherd would confirm and endorse their views. They are ready to argue on the spot. In their minds, they know their plans well, and their opinions were zealed from heaven before the showed up for counseling! If you dare to show them something different, then you must be wrong! You have to check with heaven to be sure that you are still on track with God! - While the sheep feels personally connected to the shepherd and to the fold, the goat is only an opportunist, with an agenda to use the opportunity as a stepping stone to some other selfish plans. - The goat eats without paying the price. In most churches, goats complain the most, do the least, and cause the most trouble - The goat may not necessarily and visibly hurt people, but the energy, time, and resources required to manage the goat makes it dangerous for pastors to tolerate them - The goat is highly difficult to manage THE WOLF - The wolf normally comes undercover. The preferred dress is that of a sheep. Looking the same as the sheep, the wolf finds it easy to penetrate into the flock, study the system, and look for opportunities to strike - The wolf normally domonstrates great zeal to serve, help, build, and so on. Most pastors gladly welcomes such traits - The wolf systematically walks to the place and level of influence, then strikes! - Once the strategy is in place, the wolf targets the sheep, and if possible, the shepherd! - The wolf does not come to stay. He comes in, gains attention, gains influence, and eventually leaves - but always takes one or more people along with him when leaving. I am only using the term "he" for the convenience of communication. The wolf may be male or female - When the wolf feels strong, he challenges authority, speaks evil of people in higher position, undermines the order of the house, and disregards existing instructions RECOGNIZE AND HANDLE THEM APPROPRIATELY God wants His servant to take care of the sheep. The goat wants to steal the attention and eat up the resource. The wolf wants to kill! - The next time someone comes to you for counseling and spends a lot of time arguing with you and acting up the "I know it better", or "I will rather obey God than do what you are saying...", please be kind enough to yourself, and to the sheep by preserving your precious time. Kindly sent such a person away from your office. If they know better, then they do not need you. If they do not need you, then they have no right to waste your time. Send them away politely but surely! - If someone keeps hurting the rest of the church, accusing people falsely, causing trouble in every department, and neglecting several warnings. Get out the shepherd's rod, and staf, and show that wolf the way out of the door! God has called you to help people, but no one has the right to live a consistent habit of hurting other church members. Many pastors are exhausted, not so much because of the work of tending for the flock, but because of the unnecessary additional load they carry by trying to reform wolves, and the trouble they go through in their attempts to convert wolves! The Lord said: "... Feed by sheep" (John 21:16). Do not waste your time with goats! Do not tolerate wolves! God is counting on you to do His will! By Apostle Emmanuel Idu
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