“I Am The Gate For The Sheep”

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

John 10:7-16

In ancient Israel, loving and knowing the sheep distinguished a true shepherd from a hired hand. The shepherd spent so much time with his sheep that he developed an abiding care for and a deep knowledge of the lambs. It is little wonder when Jesus tells His own, “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me…My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

He knows us and He loves us! We can trust Jesus’s purposes for us and rest in the promise of His care because His Father “knows what (we) need before (we) ask him.” As you deal with the ups and downs of life today, be at rest. You are known and loved by the Shepherd of your heart.

The wonder of it all – just to think that Jesus loves me!

Our Daily Bread – January 145, 2018