By Jeri Robinson-Lawrence, from the “North American Wensleydale Sheep1” blog:
The flock was avoiding the sticky little prickers just fine until this past two weeks. Word must have gotten out to the sheep that the shearer was scheduled to come and do his job by the end of the month. Lo and behold, they decided that it was time to mess with my mind and therefore each and every one of them appears to have rolled through the cocklebur plants…[After they were sheared] then the painful work begins for me. Skirting now involves picking out every single bur that is stuck in the wool. Last year this meant sixteen hours of being pricked in the fingers.
Sheep require care… a lot of it. We, too, as symbolic sheep, require care.
Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. – Psalm 100:3 ESV
If one of these plants (weeds) is in their pasture, they will find it. If you read Jeri Robinson-Lawrence’s blog post, you learned that the burs prick the shearers as well as those who clean the wool. It is pain that comes when sheep go where they shouldn’t go.
While reading this blog post, I had a thought about us, as the sheep of God’s pasture and our great Shepherd, Christ Jesus.
Producing Fruit
Fleese is a sheep’s fruit. It is what they produce, other than more sheep and gyros 😉. Year after year, sheep grow their wool. They don’t think about growing their fleece; it’s not something they force. Instead, it is in their nature to produce wool, so they do. And they don’t harvest it; the shearers do. Jesus makes it clear to us in the Bible that we, as sheep, should produce fruit, not once, but regularly. And we don’t do the harvesting. The Holy Spirit does.
As people are sheep of God’s pasture, our fleece comes from the spiritual DNA God places in us. And just as lambs produce less than mature sheep, our measure of fleece comes from our maturity in Christ.
What is Our Fleece?
We know our fleece grows because we are new creations2. But what is our fleece? Jesus tells us what it is. He said, “You will be known by your love.” Sheep are known for their wool, and believers are known for their love.
Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the one true God and to love our neighbor as ourselves3. It is from this love that our fleece grows. Love is in our DNA, and our fleece is how we express love. We even have a promise from Jesus about this:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. – John 15:16 ESV
Jesus also established some guardrails for our fruit (fleece) and requests. He said, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.4”
The Cockleburs
We get “worldly” cockleburs in our fleece when we get too close to the things in the world. Once stuck, a sheep cannot remove the bur. They have hooves, and their legs don’t bend that way! We, too, cannot remove cockleburs from our fleece. Only God can remove them5.
Now, let’s think about what comes from getting burs stuck in our fleece.
- God requires good wool (i.e., fruit).
- The closer we get to the world, the more cockleburs we get in our wool. These burs become entangled in our wool. They must be removed.
- Making our fleece acceptable is tedious work and painful.
- Every single bur must be removed before it is acceptable. “Skirting now involves picking out every single bur that is stuck in the wool.”
We slow the harvest when we have burs in our fleece.
Sheep That Lie
Do you remember when Jesus cursed the fig tree because it appeared to have fruit but didn’t?6 Why? It wasn’t the time of year for figs. He cursed it because it was deceiving. It was telling the world, “Look at me! I can make figs anytime I want to.”
Jesus does not tolerate deception, even when it comes from a fruit tree. We are told, “Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.7” It’s a “medical” condition if we are having problems growing our fleece. God’s love, mercy, and grace are available to heal us. But if a person says he belongs to Jesus, but produces no fruit, there is a serious problem.
Final Thoughts
Authentic faith involves the entire person: mind, heart, and will. When someone accepts the good news of salvation through Christ, the Holy Spirit transforms that person8. Out of that transformation springs obedience and acts of love9. Those acts of love are the hallmark of authentic Christianity. They are our fleece.
Image by Pascal Bondis 💙💛 💙💛💙💛 from Pixabay
Footnotes
- Robinson-Lawrence, J. (2014, October 26). Cocklebur and Wool, oh my. North American Wensleydale Sheep. https://northamericanwensleydalesheep.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/cocklebur-and-wool-oh-my/ ↩︎
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Ambassadors for Christ. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/5-17.htm ↩︎
- Mark 12:28-34 – English Standard Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012%3A28-34&version=ESV ↩︎
- Matthew 3:8 – The Mission of John the Baptist. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/matthew/3-8.htm ↩︎
- 1 John 1:6-7 – English Standard Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%201%3A6-7&version=ESV ↩︎
- Mark 11:12-25 – English Standard Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2011%3A12-25&version=ESV ↩︎
- Psalm 32:2 – The Providence of God. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved November 20, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/psalms/32-2.htm ↩︎
- Romans 12:2 – Living Sacrifices. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/romans/12-2.htm ↩︎
- Galatians 5:6 – Freedom in Christ. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/galatians/5-6.htm ↩︎
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