Growing up in my home country of New Zealand I remember vividly seeing so many sheep. Interestingly enough,there are more sheep in New Zealand than there are people! It is indeed a country known for its sheep industry. During the lambing season, thousands of baby lambs are born.Unfortunately, some lambs die at birth. Many mother sheep are also lost during lambing season; they die giving birth. In an attempt to save the orphaned lambs, the shepherds match baby lambs who have lost their mothers with mother sheep who have lost their lambs. It’s not as easy as it sounds-a mother sheep won’t accept a lamb and nurse it unless it is her own. How, then, do shepherds get a mother sheep to accept an orphaned lamb as her own? The process is as old as shepherding itself. The mother’s own lamb, which has died, is skinned, and the skin of the dead lamb is draped over the living lamb as it is placed by the adoptive mother’s side. The mother sheep then smells the skin and accepts the orphaned lamb as her own. This reminds us of what Jesus did for us on the cross. The Bible teaches us that we have been saved by the “blood of the Lamb” Revelation 7:14 Who is that Lamb? The Bible says in John 1:29 that when John saw Jesus approaching he cried “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He…has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” Ephesian 2:13-14. Because of Christ’s blood, God accepts us as His own. Once we were orphans, but now we are God’s adopted children. Friend, will you accept Jesus into your life? Have you been washed by the blood of the Lamb? Christ is calling you to come to Him! He longs to save you! One of my favorite Hymn writers was a man by the name of William Cowper. He wrote the well known Hymn “There is a Fountain” The first stanza reads: There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains! Lose all their guilty stains! And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains! Reader, do you long to lose all your guilty stains? Do you desire to be cleansed from all sin and filth? Jesus died for you! Accept Him into your life today.
Memories of Childhood
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