Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Lenten Devotional April 1, 2009

www.HopeandHelpCenter.org

Wednesday, April 1st
John 10:1-18

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.' Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away-and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Creator knows me and I know the Creator. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Creator loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes* it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Parent.'

There is so much imaginary in the Gospel of John. Trying to summarize different passages is sometimes very difficult, but there are several verses that seem to jump out in this particular section; verse 10, "The thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy and I came that you may have life and have it more abundantly." This is a key verse that can be useful to keep in the forefront of our minds as we live life everyday. We live in a fallen world that is not perfect. It wasn't the way God intended for it to be but we are here and we have to deal with living life. When things go wrong and bad things happen, we don't need to ask God why? Or question where is it coming from? The answer is right here in verse 10. We all have an enemy or thief and that thief has a job; to steal from us, kill us and destroy us plain and simple, but Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. The amplified bible quotes it this way," I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have life in abundance (to the full, till life overflows)." Jesus came to give us abundant life.

The rest of this passage in John parallels much of Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". God takes care of us, knows us by name and we know God and hear God's voice and we don't listen to or follow a stranger. God makes or causes us to lie down in green pastures, lead us besides still waters. God restores our soul and leads us in the right paths.

Wherever we are going, as long as we allow the good shepherd to lead us and stay on the path God has outlined for us, our souls are restored and we will continue to find rest. Even though Jesus states we have an enemy to contend with in this world, we have hope knowing that the bad things are not from God and that even though we may temporarily walk through (not stay stuck in forever) the darkest valley, we have nothing to fear for God is in us and with us and God comforts us. God even prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies and anoints our head with oil and overflows our cups. More confirmation about bringing us abundant life! We have the promise that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our abundant life and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. "Thank You, Jesus, for being our good shepherd who laid down your life and picked it up again through the resurrection to give us our abundant life, Amen." gmc

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