“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46

From the parking lot, a sign on the door to the building read, “Please use other door.” So I did! It was a medical office and I was being herded into a designated area to be properly ‘checked in.’ After answering all their questions, waiting my turn, and then having a procedure done, I was led to the INSIDE of the “Please use other door” to go OUT. So I did! It was locked from the inside.

Going OUT the ‘do not enter door’ left me feeling slightly privileged. Because upon exit, I now understood the whats and whys of the whole process, having just experienced it. I KNEW what was behind that locked door, something the fellow, staring at it from the parking lot, did not. But based upon a conversation I’d had with someone inside, I left with some confusion about exits.

Since lots of people were inside that building, and since my Master is in ‘the people business,’ It was only natural that I struck up a conversation. As it turned out, they too were a sheep… a fellow believer, and follower, of the same Master as me! Eventually, I asked the sheep where their pasture and flock resided, “Where do you go to church?” I asked. Sheep said, “I worship at home.”

Over the last couple years, conversations with self-admitted fellow flockers have helped me discover LOTs of ‘pasture-less sheep.’ 9/11 left people with the need to go back to Church to flock together to meet each other’s needs. Which was exactly The Master’s point! When Covid hit, the same doors that swung open to welcome people IN, got padlocked shut from the OUTSIDE… by exiting sheep! And I don’t understand… why?

The Church is the ONLY God ordained, outreach mission oriented group on planet Earth. Being part of a Pasture, or local Church, is NOT an option but a requirement by our chief shepherd, Jesus Christ. NOT being part of a pasture may help one feel free from the irritability of other sheep’s attitudes, ideas and stink. But flocking alone is NOT how Christ intended His sheep to live.

So… where is YOUR Pasture? And if your Master is the same as mine, how do you justify calling Him so… yet not do what He says? Because, the Master’s Pasture Jesus makes sure that the door to His kingdom swings both ways. Are you in or out?