The Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,” John 10:11, KJV.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He watches over us from heaven. When He left Earth He made it clear that a Comforter would be arriving soon and that is the Holy Spirit. God said that He would never leave us nor forsake us and His word is the truth. If we were to look at any other religion practiced in this world, Christ as the foundation and center of Christianity is the only one who laid down His life. He was the only One who acted in love.

“But the hired servant (he who merely serves for wages) who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away. And the wolf chases and snatches them and scatters [the flock]. Now the hireling flees because he merely serves for wages and is not himself concerned about the sheep [cares nothing for them]. I am the Good Shepherd; and I know and recognize My own, and My own know and recognize Me--,” John 10:12-14, AMP.

His love is genuine, pure, and kind. Jesus did not act in selfishness, rather selflessness. All that He did was for us. The infirmities that He bore on the cross were for the benefit of mankind. And today many reject Him as being the Son of God which is the equivalent to those who stood on that day and shouted, “Crucify Him!” Just as those who were in the past (before Christ walked the Earth) rejected Him, many today in the present are doing the same thing. It seems as if with the passage of time some embrace damaging doses of complacency. Satisfaction of thinking peace can be found in many roads to heaven. Yet Jesus clearly stated, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture,” John 10:9, KJV. And if that wasn’t enough He goes on to say, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” John 14:6, KJV.

“As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again,” John 10:15-17, KJV. There within those verses lies hope; the hope for those of us who are sharing the Gospel with a person who may have ignored the message for years. There lies hope for the person who may be out prostituting themselves for a measly dollar. There lies hope for sex addicts who think they cannot give up the lust of the flesh, there lies hope for the person who thinks they can save themselves… Jesus knew, and He knows, and here He is sharing with us His mission to bring them into the fold as well.