The Shepherd

 

Jesus referred to himself as a shepherd. You may have accepted Him as your savior. 
But do you know Him as your shepherd? He went on to say that His sheep hear His voice 
and they know His voice and they follow Him. Being one of His sheep requires listening 
for His voice and recognizing His voice as uniquely different from all the other voices in 
our heads. Listening for His voice so that your behavior is focused on following the path 
He has for you. Animals like sheep have emotions, fearful or comforted and safe. 
If you have a loved pet, you know how they follow you and crave your attention and 
affection. It may be that is the kind of relationship Jesus the shepherd wants with his sheep, 
to listen for His voice and fearlessly follow Him everywhere we go with all our attention 
and affection focused on Him.

The result will be:

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake. 

Psalm 100:3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Where would you find yourself in the flock? Would you be one of the ones who is always close to the Shepherd feeling secure in His presence and hoping to hear His voice. Or are you one who keeps a casual eye on the.shepherd and just follows along with the movement  of the flock. Or are you the, one out of a hundred, dumb sheep that becomes so distracted by a promising delectable bush, only to look up and find the herd has moved out of sight. You are hoping and praying that the Good shepherd will come looking for you.

Peter lays out the plan for the lost sheep to be found.

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Your sin and straying away have been paid for and put behind you. We can now return to the flock, you soul refreshed, to follow the right path of a righteous life doing the right thing following the Good shepherd.

An old hymn: I come to the Garden: by C. Austin Miles

I come to the garden alone
While the due is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear 
Is the son of God’s disclosing
And He walks with me and He talks with me
And he tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.

.