The Shepherds Reputation

Psalms 23:3
"He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake"

This is a verse that most of us memorized as kids in Sunday School and is also part of one of the most famous passages of Scripture, the 23rd Psalm. But I have discovered that this simple sentence contains a full course of God's truth and teaching. There are 3 important things from this simple sentence that I would like to take a look at tonight and remind us of the importance of our Shepherd.

1)"He leads me". God guides us in our Christian walk if we can just look at and listen to Him. God through Jesus is the great shepherd and truly cares and loves His sheep. God through Jesus has made a covenant with us and through that relationship cares deeply and is committed to our well being. If we truly look and listen to Jesus, He has our best and spiritual heart in mind with every decisions and path He sets before us. Now I am not saying that God will speak audibly to us and give us a direct revelation on what we are supposed to do but God guides us. God gave us His word, His bride, and His world to help lead and refine us. Jesus is our guide in this life and if we let Him will bring us whole into the next life with no regrets. But the fact is we miss Jesus leading and guiding all the time because of our sin nature, the distractions of this world, and the influence of Satan. Jesus is still there though caring, loving, and nurturing us, waiting for us to get back on His path and follow the life He has called us to. Next time we feel lost and at a loss for what to do or where to turn, I bet Jesus is there waiting to lead us if we only stop and go to His word and find His path again. Jesus is the Perfect Shepherd so let Him lead.

2)"paths of righteousness" Jesus leads us only ever in paths that are right. Righteousness means doing what is right, in the sense of meeting all obligations and displaying all relevant forms of virtue, goodwill, and Biblical truth.So what happens when our paths and life get off of the righteousness track? It is not because of Jesus that we fell off the wrong path, it is because of us. Jesus will lead us perfectly and never cause us to stumble, trip up, or commit an act of sin. We do all that by ourselves. So next time when we find that life and the course that is being laid out is wrong and not right, find out what shepherd we are following. I guarantee that it is not Jesus the perfect Shepherd that is being followed. Jesus only ever leads us in the right directions and in the paths to our growth and betterment and righteousness.

3)"for His name sake". Here is the crux of the matter. Why does Jesus lead us faithfully and direct us perfectly into the paths of righteousness? The answer might surprise us because Jesus does all that not for us but for Himself. God cares first and foremost about His own glory and reputation. So that is why Jesus leads us as the Great Shepherd, for His own reputation and spreading of His fame. God's first passion is for Himself and in His amazing choosing and grace, He uses us in this passion. Wow! God uses me to worship and spread His reputation and that is the bottom line of Him leading me. We tend to get caught up too much in ourselves and think it is about us. We even think that about the cross sometimes, that it was about me and what Jesus did for me. That is correct to say but at the bottom line of the cross is the reputation of God and the spread of His glory. And this is why Jesus leads us in paths of righteousness, to spread His fame, glory, majesty, and reputation. So when we are not being led by Jesus and going our own way we might not be sinning but we are sinning because we are stopping the reputation of our Savior from being spread.

So the simple question is, "Are we spreading the reputation of Jesus by following His leading in our lives?"