Weekly Pursuit—Week of July 14, 2024

Some may think that the Lord Jesus went to the seashore in John 21 to help the disciples get some fish for eating. But Peter realized that this was not the Lord’s intention. The Lord’s intention was to touch Peter, to shepherd his soul. At that time his soul was really suffering. His soul could not have been happy after denying the Lord… Because the Lord knew this, He shepherded Peter in his soul. Later, Peter says that he was one of the shepherds, and he exhorts his fellow elders to shepherd the flock of God (1 Pet. 5:1-3).

Now I would like us to consider what the church needs today. The biggest lack, the biggest shortage, is in the eldership because the elders should be the shepherds among God’s people. Because there are no elders, most of the sheep in the Lord’s flock are wanderers. Millions of Christians are wandering in the wilderness. Who is taking care of them? They do not have any shepherding. Even if there are some shepherds, they concentrate mostly on outward affairs; they do not shepherd people’s soul.

In the past we may have thought that we need to shepherd people’s spirit. We stress the spirit of man, and we tell people to reject the soul. But we need to realize that the saints’ problems are with their soul. We may feel that if their spirit is strong, there will be no problem. But how could their spirit be strong when they have a lot of problems in their soul? Thus, we have to learn how to shepherd their soul, how to touch their soul…. This is why I encourage you to open up yourself to your fellow brothers and sisters so that the Lord can have a way to shepherd your soul. We need this kind of shepherding.

If we are hot for the Lord to the extent that we are burning, we will pick up the burden to contact people. Even though we may not know how to contact others, we will learn by doing. I can never forget a story about D. L. Moody. He once made a vow to preach the gospel to at least one person each day. Late one night, close to midnight, he was about to go to bed when he remembered that he had not preached the gospel to anyone that day. He went out into the street to find someone to whom he could speak before the day was over. He found a policeman and exhorted him to believe in the Lord. The policeman rebuked him angrily, and Moody hurried home, but within a few days this policeman was saved. Because D. L. Moody had made such a vow, he built up a habit of contacting people. We need to be the same. In these days the Lord needs flocks of shepherds to shepherd His flocks. We all have to be the shepherds who are burdened to contact people.

We desire to contact people because we love the Lord, knowing that He loves people. Nothing can please the Lord as much as our going out to shepherd His flock. I assure you that if you contact people regularly, this will make you happy because the Lord is happy…. Shepherding should not be initiated from our purpose. It should be initiated from our loving the Lord. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Training and Practice of the Vital Groups”, ch. 7,  pp. 316-318)