The Good Shepherd is Selfless

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…

I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The Door
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM.  The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead.  We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them.  And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.

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I AM the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep.
So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.
The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
I AM the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me—
just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—
and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:11-14

From the beginning of time people have laid their lives down in order to protect the sheep.  When Jacob left Laban to go back home (taking his wives, servants, flocks and herds, and household goods), Laban became furious.  Not because Jacob left secretly, but because he had a good worker, someone who cared for the flocks, leaving:

Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night,
and my sleep fled from my eyes.
Genesis 31:40

Jacob lost many nights of sleep to make sure the sheep were well cared for.  Sheep have to be watched because they wander away.  They have to be sheared at the right time because of the closeness of their wool.  If it is not shaved at the right time or they can easily become infested with parasites and die.

If God cares enough for the sheep to have those kind of shepherds like Jacob, how much more will He care for us…?  God’s love is so immense.  It is so full of goodness, and will help us overcome our feelings of inadequacy. As long as we lay our feelings down at His feet, we will be able to overcome them.  God loves us so much.  The fact that He sent His Son to die on the Cross is evidence of His great love.

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Father, help us to have faith in Your Word.  Forgive us when we doubt.  Help us build our faith and trust You will always be there even more than when Jacob was there for his sheep.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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