“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”
I want to point out what Jesus meant when He called Himself “the good shepherd.” What Jesus meant by this is given in John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” Shepherds literally guarded their sheep with their lives. In those days, the sheep might have belonged to the community in which they lived. The community depended upon them for their livelihood. Jesus compared them to the “hireling,” who was only hired to watch the sheep but did not have the sense of responsibility of the good shepherds. (Of course, there were hired shepherds who also qualified as good shepherds.) In verse 13, Jesus said: “The hireling flees, because he is a hireling and cares not for the sheep.” Jesus is the “good shepherd” because He cares for God’s sheep and is not only willing to die for them; He would ultimately give His life on the cross for God’s sheep. (That is us!) Jesus is the good shepherd because He knows His sheep. Jesus does not just have a shallow knowledge of our lives. Jesus knows everything about us, our words, our deeds, even our thoughts. This means that Jesus does not look at our lives through "rose colored glasses." He knows the good and bad about us! This is why it is so amazing that He loves us and was willing to give His life for us on the cross. Jesus’ love for us is not temporary, and is not based upon our actions, words or thoughts. His love is based upon the fact that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," that through Him we might be saved. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) Frankly, Jesus loves all of us in spite of ourselves. Jesus knew that when He came to die, that He would die for sinners, who could come to Him for forgiveness and be saved. It is just a matter of claiming Him by faith into our lives. Jesus is the good shepherd because He invites us to know Him: “and am known of mine.” Isn’t this amazing? Hey, don’t miss the amazement. We should not become so gospel hardened that we miss the wonder of actually knowing Jesus – the Son of God. Jesus does not invite us into a shallow knowledge of Himself. We can know Him by a faith relationship with Him. We can know Him through scripture. We can know Him through prayer. We can know Him through the Holy Spirit who drew us to Him in the first place. We can know Jesus through serving Him. Our faith relationship with Jesus is a daily experience, in which He leads us to know Him and to serve Him. You either know Jesus, or you can know Him by inviting Him into your life today. Do it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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