Today’s reading is Revelation 7:1-8:13.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:15-17).

He has been a lamb like me. He knows what it is like to submit to the guiding hand of a Shepherd. But He is the Lamb far greater than me. He is Himself the great Shepherd. When I follow Him, He provides, protects, and comforts. He will lead me to springs of living water. He will wipe away my tears. Why would I want to follow anyone else?

Today, I just want to get closer to Him no matter what else is going on around me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is John 9:1-10:42.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).

I’ve spent so much of my time trying to explain what this passage doesn’t mean that I’ve often lost the great comfort it does mean. If I’m one of Christ’s sheep, hearing His voice, and following Him, I can’t be lost. I won’t stray. No one can snatch me out of His hand.

I don’t have to fear that somehow Satan is going to pull a fast one on me, trick me right at the end, get me out of Christ’s hand, then kill me. I’m a sheep of the great Shepherd. He is protecting me.

Of course, I’m not saying I’m perfect right now and nothing will keep me from being perfect. Rather, I’m saying that I’m growing in Christ and I don’t have to fear that Satan is going to stop that as long as I continue to follow the Shepherd. I don’t have to live in fear today that somehow Satan is veiling something from me or that somehow the people around me will keep me out of the fold. I can trust in the Good Shepherd who so wanted to save me that He laid down His life for me. I can put my eternal life in His hands. Where He leads is the way to go. I’ll just follow Him.

Today, I need to simply follow the Shepherd’s lead. I can’t possibly be lost if I do that.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is John 9:1-10:42.

There’s so much good stuff in John, it is hard to write these posts every day because I just want to keep writing and writing and writing. Today, I’ll note two.

1) A little tidbit caught my eye while reading. As the Jews were rebuking the former blind man, they said of Jesus, “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from” (John 9:31). That grabbed my attention because I remembered in John 7:27  some decided Jesus wasn’t the Messiah because, “But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” I don’t exactly know why they had this idea; I just couldn’t help but notice the contrast. Frankly, what I get from it is if we don’t want to believe God, any excuse will do. We may eve take opposite sides of the fence at different times just to not believe. 

A little caution here: It is too easy to see this and point the finger at all those out there who don’t believe what I do. The warning is I can be susceptible to this too. That is why we have to keep our hearts open to God’s Word and ask Him to enlighten us through it.

2) That first point really caught my eye, but the point about this reading that really helped me today is actually in John 10:7-10.

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. I anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

I’ve often read this as a distinction between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. I’m sure that applies. However, today it hit me just a little bit differently. Satan sends a lot of false shepherds our way. That is, he sends a lot of messages that promise comfort and pasturing. He says, “Tell this little white lie. It’s not that big of a deal and it will get you out of trouble. Go ahead.” He says, “Just drink a little of this alcohol. No one can really prove it is wrong. It’s okay. It will make you feel better, calm your nerves, help you face the day and all its troubles.” He says, “Click this link to find out which hot women are searching your name on Google, oh and here are some naked pictures of them. Just look at a few of these, it will make you feel better.” He says, “That guy didn’t have a right to speak to you that way. You need to let him have it. You don’t get mad, you get even. That will make you feel better.” I could keep going. When we take refuge in these temptations, we are looking for pasture. We are looking for comfort. We are looking for something that will just feel right and feel at home. 

But these other “shepherds” are actually robbers, thieves, murderers. Satan promises pasturing through them, but all we get is guilt, shame, anxiety, death. They suck the life right out of us. Sometimes we don’t even know it. All we know is that something just isn’t working but we can’t figure out what so we can run in circles, trying these same things over and over again, butting our heads into the tree trunks, until we finally collapse from utter exhaustion and despair.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He can pasture us, making us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside still waters. Don’t let the thief, Satan, steal your life. Trust Jesus.

***Question: What do you do to stay with Jesus and stay away from false shepherds?

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

I love John 10, the analogy of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. I love the picture of the Good Shepherd.

But that means I’m just a sheep. That doesn’t sound too good. Sheep are some of the most stupid and helpless creatures. They stray easily and get lost. They get caught in bushes and brambles easily. They can even just lay down in the grass and accidentally rock off center and not be able to get back up.

Sheep are the most pathetic creatures out there. Wow. This really isn’t a pleasant picture of me. And yet, that is the one Jesus chose to use to picture His relationship with me.

Here is the point for me. I’ve got to realize what a sheep I am. Left on my own I’ll just end up cast down, caught in the bushes, eaten by the enemy or just exhausted by my own efforts to stand upright. But I have a loving Savior and Shepherd who watches me and cares for me. He will lift me when I’ve fallen. He will hunt for me when I’ve lost my way. He will feed me when I’m hungry. He will salve my wounds. He will do all of this without shaming me for being nothing more than a sheep.

I love my Shepherd.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC