“I am the good shepherd”, John 10:11.
Sheep are valuable animals because they produce meat, wool and milk which we consume. Sheep must be taken care of well, in order to be productive. And so are we.
We are precious in God's eyes because we are his Children, and He cares about each of us.
There's many reasons why we are compared to sheep when it comes to our relationships with Jesus.
WE ARE VALUABLE. Sheep was treated as a prized possession in Jesus's days. Every sheep owner had to make sure he took good care of his flock. Aren’t we precious to God too? He views us as priceless possessions He fights for and protects. He knows our thoughts and our dreams. He knows our future. He knows our hearts. He loves us so much that he sacrificed the dearest He had - His only Son Jesus - to give us back the life that was stolen by sin.
“Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life”, Isaiah 43:4.
WE NEED TO BE TAKEN CARE OF. Sheep are vulnerable animals and may be devoured by predators any time, if left unattended. They are not able to protect themselves and heal their own wounds. We think that we are strong enough to protect ourselves, but we are not. We are weak, we maybstumble and fall and need help to get up. We need to be watched over and protected from the enemy that waits to devour us. We need a healer to heal the wounds of our past sins, choices and decisions.
"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds”, Psalms 147:3.
WE DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF DIRECTION. If you watch sheep, you will see that if they walk far away from the rest of the flock, they get lost because of the lack of a good sense of direction that would enable them to come back “home”. Don't we sometimes get lost in your own weaknesses and insecurities, the opinions of others, fears and doubts? We need wisdom and the truth to know who we are in Christ, a guide to lead us to where we belong. We need to be brought back home. Jesus gives us that sense of navigation in our every day life. He brings us back on track, if we take a wrong exit.
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you”, Psalm 32:8.
WE ARE STUBBORN. So are we. We think we know how to live, including how others should, so we always try to “help” them. We think we know our future so we live like we do. We don’t like to be told the truth because it hurts. We choose to go our own way even though we know we may get lost. We are stubborn and even knowing that we are, we keep insisting on our own way. We need to be shown what humility is and Jesus does exactly that.
"They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart”, Ephesians 4:18.
WE NEED DAILY MAINTENANCE. Sheep need to be cleaned, otherwise they stink. They need to be trimmed, otherwise they will look horribly unkept. So do we. We need spiritual "showers". We need spiritual maintenance which only Jesus can provide for us. We tend to live in sin to the point that we “stink”, and yet we feel very comfortable about who we have become. We need to be reminded of “washing ourselves" daily. We need to be reminded of how to live our life the way God created us to live.
"Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God”, 2 Corinthians 7:1.
Isn't it so comforting to know that we have a shepherd watching over us and bringing us back home when we go astray?!
We are in good hands of a good shepherd Jesus.
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