Color Catcher

Matt.11:²⁸ “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Shepherds are to sheep what the goatherd is to goats. Have you ever seen a goatherd? I saw one once when I was serving in Northern Nigeria. That day, we were evangelizing from village to village, and along the way we came across sheep grazing in the field. Shortly after, we came across a herd of goats and their goatherd. The goatherd was a smart teenage boy; I think he was smart because he kept all the goats together by tying a rope on their necks. Thinking about it, that is the best way to mind goats. I pray you will not behave like a goat, in Jesus Name [say Amen].

The rod is for the enemy, the staff is for the sheep. While the rod is to deliver the sheep from the enemy, the staff is to deliver the sheep from itself. The rod is a tool of power, the staff is a tool of grace. Grace is when God gives you what you do not deserve, instead of what you actually deserve. When the sheep stubbornly wanders off and falls into the water or a hole, the shepherd does not decide to teach it a lesson by letting it suffer. The shepherd extends grace to the sheep with his staff. Out of ignorance and sometimes foolishness, the sheep goes into a thicket of thorns and cannot get itself out. The shepherd does not leave it to perish. Instead, the shepherd takes the staff of grace and rescues it. If God is your shepherd, when you are in trouble, where should you go? You should run to God and not run from Him. This is usually what differentiates sheep from goat. Sheep run to their shepherd.

In my early days of doing my laundry by myself in marriage, I just used to throw all the clothes into the washing machine at the same time. The white clothes usually come out looking dull and so I would complain to my wife. Knowing what has gone wrong, she would ask, “how did you wash the clothes?” “I put everything into the machine and pushed wash!” I would respond, and she would say, “You need to separate the white clothes from the colored.” Then she gave me something from a box that had been sitting on the machine all along called a color catcher. When you throw the color catcher in with the wash load, it absorbs the colors that bleed. So, the white clothes remain white and I am a happy man. Wives know a lot of things that husbands do not know, just ask humbly.

Sometimes, life turns you and bleeds on you. You should actually come out stained, but God’s grace comes into the equation and absorbs all the colours. So, you come out of it strong and bright.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for absorbing the stains and preserving my purity, in Jesus Name. Amen!