The Good Shepherd

“Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We used to be lost, like sheep,  and wandering in the wilderness of sin. Sheep are animals that require oversight and protection. Sheep are completely defenseless and depend upon a shepherd to protect and guide them. Sheep are not intelligent creatures, they are very gullible. If one sheep goes astray from the flock, the shepherd must immediately seek the stray to find it. “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Once he finds it, he returns it to the fold. If the shepherd does not find the sheep quickly, it can become prey to wolves and other carnivorous wildlife. The best, and safest, place for a sheep is with the shepherd. If a sheep is injured, the shepherd will tend its wounds. If the sheep can't walk, the shepherd will carry it on his shoulders. A shepherd carries a staff to help keep sheep in line and to ward off impending danger. If a sheep continually breaks ranks from the fold, the shepherd will break its leg to keep it from wandering. The shepherd would rather have the sheep hurt, momentarily, than to see it become a victim of the wolf. In fact, the shepherd will gate in the sheep for the night and sleep at the entrance as the doorway to the sheep. A true shepherd would rather fight with the wolf than to allow the wolf access to the sheep. Without a shepherd, sheep are doomed to die. Jesus is the Shepherd of humanity. Without Him, we are doomed to eternal death. Satan prowls nearby, waiting for a stray sheep to pounce upon. Jesus said ““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,” ‭‭John‬ ‭10:11-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬ David, the psalmist, said "The Lord is my Shepherd" (Psalm 23:1). David was a shepherd by trade. He knew the significance of a good shepherd. Is Jesus your Shepherd? If not, let Him take you into the fold and be your Guide and Protector. He is always ready to receive a new sheep into the family.