The parable of the good shepherd represents the responsibility of every minister and of every Christian who has accepted a position as teacher of the children and youth. The one that has strayed from the fold is not followed with harsh words and a whip but with winning invitations to return. The ninety and nine that had not strayed do not call for the sympathy and tender, pitying love of the shepherd. But the shepherd follows the sheep and lambs that have caused him the greatest anxiety and have engrossed his sympathies most deeply. He leaves the rest of the sheep, and his whole energies are taxed to find the one that is lost.
(CT 198.1)
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And then the picture—praise God!—the shepherd returns with the sheep, carrying it in his arms, and rejoicing at every step. “Rejoice with me,” he says, “for I have found my sheep which was lost.”Luke 15:6. I am so thankful that we have the picture of the sheep found. There is no picture presented before our imagination of a sorrowful shepherd returning without the sheep. This is the lesson that the undershepherds are to learn—success in bringing the sheep and lambs back to the fold.
(CT 198.2)
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The wisdom of God, His power, and His love are without parallel. They are the divine guarantee that not one, even, of the straying sheep and lambs is overlooked, not one left unsuccored. A golden chain—the mercy and compassion of divine power—is passed around every one of these imperiled souls.
(CT 198.3)
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To those who are accepted as teachers in our schools is opened a wide field for labor and cultivation, for the sowing of the seed, and the harvesting of the ripened grain. What should give greater satisfaction than to educate the children and youth to love God and keep His commandments? What should give greater joy than to see these children and youth following Christ, the Great Shepherd? What should shed more sunshine through the soul of the devoted worker than to know that his patient, persevering labor in the Lord is not in vain, to see his pupils experiencing joy in their souls for sins forgiven, to see them receiving the impressions of the Spirit of God in true nobility of character and in the restoration of the moral image of God, seeking for that peace which comes from the Prince of Peace? The truth a bondage? Yes, in one sense; for it binds the soul in willing captivity to the Saviour, bowing the heart to the gentleness of Christ.
(CT 198.4)
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