We Are All Stinky Sheep

Today, I am excited to have my friend Crystal Joos guest posting. I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Crystal a few weeks back while we were on vacation, and we had an enjoyable chat about children, homeschooling, and ministry. I know you’ll be blessed!

Stinky Sheep

This past week our children attended the Vacation Bible School that our church was hosting. It was a busy but wonderful week. During the closing assembly one day, I noticed that my daughter looked like she had been crying. I probed her about it when we got home and it came out that she had been struggling in her heart towards another child who was visiting that week. Apparently over the course of the first few days his actions had frustrated her. As I talked with her, trying to guide her in thinking biblically, she asked me, “What do you do with someone like that?”

We’re All Just Stinky Sheep

My husband and I weren’t in the ministry very long when we heard a quote that really helped us in how we look at people. Some wise person said, “If you don’t like the smell of sheep, then don’t become a shepherd.”  It was a good sound-bite for us to tuck away, but from that we came up with a phrase that we would often say to each other as a helpful reminder: “We’re all just stinky sheep.”

God’s Word compares us often to stinky sheep. Isaiah 53:6a is probably the most familiar of examples, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.” Jeremiah 50:6 says that we are all “lost sheep.” I Peter 2:25a states, “For ye were as sheep going astray.” I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to call someone else a stinky sheep.  However, if I take another look at these passages, I see words like “all” or “everyone.” Those are all-inclusive words. I am not exempt.

Don’t Look Further Than the Mirror

When I am dealing with a particularly frustrating person, it is always good for me to take the mirror of God’s Word (James 1:22-25) and remind myself of my own “stinkiness.”  Do I really think I am less frustrating or irritating than someone else? Am I suddenly perfect? Romans 12: 3 says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” No doubt, at different points in my life there have been people who have put up with my own fleshly stench.  And yet, they have been longsuffering, as Christ commanded in Ephesians 4:2, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.” There is a reason why Jesus Christ is my Good Shepherd. It’s because I, myself, am a stinky sheep. I need Him now more than ever.

Sheep Need the Shepherd’s Guidance

While this helps me in dealing with my attitude towards others, I need to keep in mind that God is holy. My husband and I often tell our children that we love them too much to let them continue in sin. Just because we have two “stinky sheep” in our house (or maybe I should say four) doesn’t mean we let them continue pursuing sinful things just because we are sinful too (Rom. 6:1-2). There are times for confrontations. Those times happen often in ministry too, and are never easy. We are to be gently but firmly pointing others to God’s Word, and guiding them toward Christlikeness. Remember, Christ Himself was moved with compassion and began to teach the people (Mk.6:34) who were like sheep without a shepherd.

God has been ever so gracious to me.  I have failed Him so many times and yet He is always ready and willing to forgive. While it’s never easy to work with certain frustrating people that come along our path in life, what I reminded my daughter of this past week is something I need to remind myself of often: “Be patient. Be loving. After all, we’re ALL just stinky sheep in need of the help of the Good Shepherd.”

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Crystal Joos  grew up out west in Longmont, Colorado. She trusted Christ in junior  high school and acknowledged Him as her Lord and Savior. She and her husband Taigen have been in the ministry for eleven years in New England. They  co-labored with Ken & Judy Endean at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Scarborough, ME for seven years and have been serving at Heritage Baptist Church in Dover, NH for four. Crystal is a stay at home, home schooling mother to their seven year old twins, Marshall and Shaylen. She loves participating in the  church music program and ladies’ ministries. Her hobbies include listening to sacred and classical music, reading good books, crafting … all while drinking a good cup of coffee.

You can visit their church website  here: www.hbcdover.com