C. S. Lewis wrote, “When we are unwanted by our fellow creatures, we are wanted by Him . . . The most precious possession that ever comes to a man (or a woman or a child) in this world is the consciousness that God loves him.” Family, friends, and foes may reject us and also those we look up to and admire, yet the Cross demonstrates our "wantedness," if I may use that term. On the Cross, Jesus demonstrated the enormity of our value to God the Father. Created in His image, He loved us enough to sacrifice His own Son to accomplish what we could never do on our merit.

The Cross calls us. It calls us to come and die to self—to self-sufficiency, to works-based faith, and to defeated feelings of being unloved and unwanted. Yet it is in the shadow of the Cross, in the darkness of pain and suffering, that Jesus demonstrates our ultimate wantedness.

In his song "The Wonderful Cross," Chris Tomlin writes,

Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross

Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live

Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross

All who gather here by grace, draw near and bless Your name

Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross

Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.

As we enter into this Easter season, may we yet again, and afresh, hear the voice of the Shepherd calling us to find all we need in Him. The legacy and the blessing of that first resurrection morning still flows to us and to all who call on the name of Jesus. Your world may be dark, and feelings of unwantedness may flood your soul – but know this – you are wanted and loved to the point that the creator of the universe sacrificed His only Son so that each of us might find new life in Him.

My eight year old granddaughter made a "stained-glass window" for Easter with colorful tissue paper and put it in the window of their home. I love the contrast between the background of the bleak and barren prairies and the vibrant colours of the Cross. What a picture of how our lives, often bleak, barren, and forboding, can come to vibrant life because of the Cross. The Cross changed everything. The resurrecction proclaimed a new victory.

Regardless of the circumstances of your life right now, listen for the voice of the Shepherd that is calling you home. Home to a new life, to wantedness! Jesus said, « My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one » (John 10.27-30).

Oh, the wonderful Cross – listening for the call of the Shepherd!

Rev. Bill Allan,

AGC President

A Legacy of Blessing: The Call of the Shepherd