Stop straying; Return to Him

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
(1 Peter 2:24-25 ESV)

In this small passage contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is sin? In this passage the word SIN in 1 Peter 2:24 corresponds with the word "straying" in verse 25.

Sin is straying, like sheep. It is having no shepherd, but just doing whatever we want, following the stupid, evil desires of our heart, falling into ditches, hurting ourselves, not knowing where we are going. It is having no direction in life, just existing, just 'cruising' through life, as the world says. That is called SIN. It is an aimless life that is like a blind man groping his way through utter darkness. It is having no LEADER in our lives, having no centre, but just being our own leader, which is like dumb sheep trying to lead itself without a Shepherd.

Yet what did Christ do? He came, and He bore our sins, all our straying in his body on the tree, that we may NO LONGER STRAY! By His wounds we have been healed from straying through life.

Christ rose again, and now when we look to Him who died in our place for our rebellion, when we look to our Shepherd who so loved us, we now RETURN to Him, AMAZED by His love (verse 25). This is what it means to "live to righteousness" (verse 24). We are now under His leadership. We now know where we are going - we are going to the FATHER through Christ the Way:

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(John 14:5-6 ESV)

We now have a reason for living: it is to glorify God. We now do what GOD wants, and go where HE wants us to go, and not where our stupid, foolish hearts want us to go. We are not just existing in this world, but we are counting every moment and every step as precious as it has been given to us by God to glorify Him with. We now have a goal in life, and it is Christ. It is to be like Him in every way. We are now living under His reign.


And moreover, we are now satisfied. Jesus Christ leads us to still waters and make us to lie down in green pastures. And so we readily give our selves to Him, all because He loved us and gave Himself for us. 


Like sheep, let us trust our Lord and follow Him, knowing that He is our only hope, our only security, our only joy!!