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 👋
We who identify publicly with Christ are becoming embarrassingly divided over issues where God has a clear position. We must read the Bible for ourselves and not parrot what someone told us.
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.
So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 2: 8-10 (NLT).
Let’s chew on those verses for a few minutes.
This is a good reminder of a way of life that’s foreign for many of us. Wishing you a blessed week and day.
Jesus shared many words of comfort to his followers. The Judeo-Christian Bible is rich in sources of comfort. We need to remember and meditate on verses that encourage us.
“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me,that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
John 18: 17-23 (NKJV).