Advent Day 25: Shepherds of our souls
John 10:11-18
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
1 Peter 2:25
25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
There is one fundamental difference between false gods and the God we find in Jesus. False gods or idols are things, people, and thoughts that we place our hope in as a Savior. So, for example, money can function as a false god. Meaning we put hope in money to bring happiness or to keep us healthy. We place our trust in reputation as another example. We believe, falsely that if we can get everyone to like us then we will learn to like ourselves. However, false gods never satisfy.
And here is the difference between false gods and the God who came to us. False gods say “sacrifice to me and then you can come to me.” The True God says “I’ll sacrifice for you and come to where you are.” This is why the Christmas season is so spectacular. It marks the time of the Christian calendar where we remember that God comes to us.
God comes to us because his concerned with our heart, soul and life. We aren’t a number to him but rather a child. Therefore God’s desire is to shepherd us. To lead us to places of green grass. To protect us from evil. To teach us how trust and know him. To learn to listen to his voice.
With a series of functional false gods like money, sex, power, reputation, off-the mark goals, etc. we end up straying like sheep (1 Peter 2:25). We can easily live a straying life going from one field to another and sacrificing our wool and hoping to find happiness. But God is the good shepherd. And a good shepherd always lays down his life for his sheep.
Herein lies the scary part about Christianity. If Jesus is asking us to leave our false gods and come to him the true God and if it is true that he has laid down his life in sacrifice then we have to face this very scary dilemma about grace: If God has done everything for us then there isn’t anything he can’t ask of us.
If God has paid our sin then we are indebted to him…not that we can pay him back but that we should be willing to do anything for him. And the reason why so many of us are so scared to follow Christ is because we are scared of what he may ask of us or do to us.
Here is our hope to move us around this fear. We have to learn to trust that he is GOOD shepherd who wants to bring us safely home. Shepherds care for their sheep even when the sheep don’t know they are being cared for. In our straying hearts we sin God brings us back with his hook of discipline and grace. The shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and acclaim to go after the one lost sheep. And this shepherd – the overseer of our souls has left heaven itself to come into this world to be born in manger so that he may lead us to the land of great promise.
