Tag: Shepherd

Devotionals

Who is Leading You?     

Loring Schultz

Read: Psalm 23 KJV – The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not – Bible Gateway

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3 KJV

Photo by Mark Stuckey on Unsplash

Psalm 23 is the most recognized portion of Scripture outside of John 3:16 for most Christians. There is a lot of ground covered in these six verses. The primary focus is the Shepherd-King providing comfort and supplying our needs all through life including our appointed time of death. But there are several nuances within Psalm 23 that expand beyond the comforting nature of the psalm.

When reading, ‘He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake’ I saw that in a different light as I read the 23rd Psalm recently. As I thought through this, a few things came to mind. Our shepherd will never lead us down the wrong path. So, why do we often find ourselves going the wrong way? Is it because we are not following our shepherd, as sheep tend to drift away? Are we allowing someone or something else to lead us astray? The psalmist writes, ‘He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness,’ which He can only do, meaning if we end up on the wrong road we are not following Him but following another or even ourselves. And that is not the righteous way!

The Lord leads us down paths that will always honor His name. The roads we travel on our own without God’s guidance rarely end up honoring His name. If the Lord is truly our shepherd, then we need to surrender all our will to His will and not fight against it and take that hard turn back on the right road. It leads to ‘righteousness for His name’s sake.’

Devotionals

Are you following the Voice of Strangers?

Loring Schultz

“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:5 NASB

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

All of us are comfortable with familiar surroundings. The voices of those we hang around with are welcomed at any time. When having a bad day hearing a familiar voice quiets your spirit. We may be quick to follow them to an event to help shed some of those anxious feelings. There is a trust factor with one we have cultivated a relationship with. You would not hang around with a stranger, in fact you wouldn’t recognize their voice. You would not follow the voice of a stranger.

One of Jesus’ seven ‘I am’ statements found in the gospel of John is ‘I am the door.’ Jesus is saying He is the door unto salvation. In Jesus’ illustration of Him being the door, He references the doorkeeper who is an under shepherd who guards the door at night and assists the shepherd in caring for His flock. The doorkeeper recognizes the shepherd’s voice and opens the door to the sheep pen. The shepherd’s sheep have already started to gather around the door for they responded to the shepherd’s unique call from outside the door. He calls them by name, and they follow Him because they know His voice. They will not follow the voice of a stranger.

Not all the sheep in the sheep pen followed Jesus’ in this illustration. They did not recognize His voice. It was the voice of a stranger. To many people today, Jesus is a stranger. They followed the voices of those they are familiar with, the voices of the world and the world’s system. The voices that say all religions lead to God, or just do the best you on your own, or living a life a love and peace will get you a blissful afterlife.

Don’t be fooled by the voices of false teachers or the secular views of the world. These are the voices of strangers to those who truly know Christ as savior. Jesus says, “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” (Jn.10:5 nasb) If these voices are familiar to you, then you are following the voices of those outside the saving knowledge of Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (Jn.14: nasb) Accept Jesus’ call to salvation and become a sheep of His pasture recognizing His voice and never again follow the voice of strangers.

Read: John 10:1-10 NASB – Parable of the Good Shepherd – Bible Gateway

Bible Studies

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD: Jesus’ seven “I AM” statements – 4

Loring Schultz

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.” John 10:14-16 NLT

Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

Jesus, in His fourth “I am” statement in the gospel of John said, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ ‘Good’ meaning ‘noble’, ‘worthy’ or a model of what a shepherd is to be. This indicates that not all shepherds were good. The responsibility of a shepherd is to care for the sheep, leading them, feeding them, and protecting them from danger even at the risk of their own lives, ultimately saving them from life-or-death situations.

Jesus says the noble, worthy shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. All of us are like sheep in a helpless life-or-death condition having no hope but to be rescued by Jesus, the ‘Good Shepherd.’ The Old Testament prophet Isaiah writes, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” (Is. 53:6 nlt) Jesus did just that by laying down His life, offering it as a sacrifice for our sins by dying on the cross, providing the way of Salvation for us.

Throughout history there have been many deceiving shepherds who have led people astray. Prophets from the many false religions in the world administer their deceptive teaching concerning the way of Salvation and eternal life. They may sound sincere and persuasive but, they are sincerely wrong, and it ends in eternal destruction. They strive to lead people into thinking there are other ways to God. But there is no one who has ever said that they laid down their life for the sheep, nor could they, nor did they. There is only one good shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Follow Jesus, the only Good Shepherd. He will not lead you astray, but into eternal life.