The Bummer Lamb

There’s a term shepherds use called a bummer lamb.

It’s a lamb rejected by its mother at birth.

Maybe she’s sick. Maybe there are twins. Maybe she just walks away.

But once she rejects it, she doesn’t change her mind.

That lamb will not survive on its own.

It can’t feed itself.

It can’t defend itself.

It cannot make it without intervention.

So the shepherd steps in.

He bottle-feeds it.

He carries it and talks to it.

He keeps it warm.

He protects it through the night.

So as the lambs grow, and the bummer lambs are allowed to rejoin the herd.  But when the shepherd calls them, and they hear his voice, guess which ones run to him first?

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Scripture calls Jesus two things that should stop us in our tracks.

He is the Lamb of God.

And He is the Good Shepherd.

Isaiah says of Him, “He was despised and rejected.”

The Lamb was rejected.

So that rejected lambs could be adopted.

That’s us.

Sin separated us. We weren’t mostly okay. We weren’t “a little off.” We were spiritually orphaned. We couldn’t feed ourselves. We couldn’t clean ourselves up. We couldn’t save ourselves.

Left alone, we die.

But the Shepherd intervened.

He didn’t wait for us to improve.

He didn’t ask us to prove our worth.

He picked us up.

And here’s where this becomes personal.

Some people follow Jesus casually.

They pray when they remember.

They show up when it’s convenient.

They give Him a portion of their lives.

Why?

Because they don’t realize they were a bummer lamb.

When you think you’re strong, you negotiate with God.

When you know you were dead without Him, you surrender.

There are not “levels” of Christianity. There is awareness.

Some know they were carried.

Others still think they’re walking on their own strength.

The lamb knows the shepherd’s voice.

But the bummer lamb knows the shepherd’s arms.

Many of us have spent years pretending we’re fine. Building careers. Raising families. Going to church. Managing appearances.

But deep down?

We were never meant to survive alone.

Jesus didn’t come to make decent men slightly better.

He came to rescue dead men.

If you’ve been carried, you know it.

And if you haven’t surrendered yet, you’re still trying to feed yourself.

There’s a better way.

Be carried