Jesus used this metaphor to communicate with his followers. The survival of sheep depends on the existence of a shepherd who cares.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.”
John 10: 11-16 (NLT).
Greetings 👋
Who are my brothers and sisters? Are these verses imploring us to have compassion and love for the whole of humanity?
What do you think?
“We love because he [Jesus] first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
1 John 4: 19-21 (NIV).
Greetings 👋
I’m continuing with my meditation on 1 John 4. Have you ever really reflected on the love of God and what He is trying to perfect in us?
“. . .God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way God’s love is perfected in us, so that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.”
1 John 4: 16-18 (MEV).
Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%204%3A16-18&version=MEV;NIV
