As you serve in this world alongside your Pastor and Shepherd, Jesus Christ, you must have His heart toward His flock. What does that mean?
Someone once said that “the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.” In the ancient world, and even today, the heart represents the innermost emotional well-being of a person. We mean the most profound emotional connection possible when we speak of serving with heart. Serving Jesus with His heart is essential. You must see things His way. You must serve people His way, with his desire.
Here is an example of His heart for the lost:
Matthew 9:36–38 (NKJV) “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
People were not a bother to Him. He saw their condition, which moved Him (in His heart) to respond compassionately.
God desires us to serve Him with a “Pastor’s” heart, as a shepherd caring for His flock.
A heart of compassionate care.
A heart of caring concern.
A heart that sees needs and moves to help.
A heart that is self-less.
A heart that is self-sacrificial.
A heart that is self-denied.
A heart that is soft, pliable, and abiding in Christ.
Ezekiel 34:11–16 (NKJV) “‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”
