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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As I was reading John 10:11-18, I kept going back to these two verses:

This is why the Father loves Me,
because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again.
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own.
I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again.
I have received this command from My Father.
John 10:17-18 HCSB

I love the way verse 18 reads in NLT:

“No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.”

Did you catch that?—Jesus chose to surrender Himself to God’s plan voluntarily.  He chose to become our Good Shepherd.  In John 6:38 (HCSB) Jesus says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  Christ had the ability, the authority to say NO.  Instead, He chose to lay down His life for us in accordance to His Father’s will.

We face the same choice.  We can either go it on our own or we can voluntarily submit ourselves to God’s plan.  Titus 2:14 reminds us that Christ “…gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.”  2 Timothy 1:9 (NIV) tells us, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.”

Christ led by example.  He became our example.  He is our Good Shepherd—the one who cares for us and leads us to safety.  He has called us.  Yet the choice is ours.  No one else will make the decision for us.  No one is going to snatch our struggles from us.  We must willingly…voluntarily…surrender our will to His and allow Him to lead us.

For me, the surrender is daily; sometimes minute-by-minute.  But when I do and I trust my Good Shepherd following His lead, well, therein lies the victory!

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Jesus, I am so glad You willingly chose to follow God’s plan. I am thankful You know me. I am grateful I can listen to Your voice and follow where You lead. But most of all, I am thankful You laid Your life down for me. In Your precious name I pray, Amen – it is so!