[The devotions this week were written by one of the men who served as a mission helper to India this past summer.]
Monday, September 17, 2007
John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.
MESSAGES FROM INDIA (I)
From little on we have known that Jesus is our shepherd and that we are his sheep. As children and on into adulthood we can remember singing: "I am Jesus' little lamb, ever glad at heart I am." But have you ever stopped to think of what it really means to be one of Jesus sheep?
This illustration did not register quite fully with me until I had actually seen a group of shepherds tending to their sheep, directing them to their next destination somewhere in Southeast India. There must have been four or five shepherds with at least thirty sheep each all jumbled together into one great convoy (which happened to be blocking traffic).
"How can the shepherds tell which sheep are theirs? They all look the same to me," I asked our faithful translator. "Oh, he knows. He does not forget which are his, because he has paid for each one of those sheep. They are precious to him," he replied, somewhat surprised that I wasn't familiar with the ins and outs of the shepherding profession. That's when it really made sense!
Jesus is YOUR good shepherd. You are HIS sheep. He knows you individually. Do you feel as though you don't stand out, that you are just another face in the crowd? Do you feel as David did exclaiming: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him" (Psalm 8). Jesus knows you personally. He knows if you are the sheep that has a bum leg, or the one that runs ahead of the flock, or the one who gets distracted easily. He knows your strengths, your weaknesses, your triumphs, and your struggles.
Most importantly, he knows that you belong to him and he will never forget that. He has paid for you in full by laying down his life. You are precious to him. Take some time today to find out more about your Good Shepherd.
