Tag: hired hand

16.w. “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

John 10:7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and 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. He 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. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And 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.

Psalms 23:1   The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Isaiah 40:11     He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Ezekiel 34:12    As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Ezekiel 37:24   My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.

Micah 5:4    And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Hebrews 13:20    Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant

1 Peter 2:25   For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 5:4    And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

The true Shepherd knows the sheep of His flock.  He keeps watch over His sheep. He laid down His life for His Sheep. There is one “Shepherd” and one “Flock”.  I am sure we can all agree that the “Shepherd” is Jesus Christ.  I think many get confused about who makes up the flock. The flock is made up of those who live and pursue to honor and glorify Jesus Christ, ALL OF THE TIME.  There is a false belief that one can live for Jesus on Sundays and the rest of the week live for themself. On Sundays they get all these religious feelings and they think, “I am a Christian and I am pleasing God.” But then Monday comes around and they are interested in other things. They are replacing “Living for God” by pursuing other interests, goals, and worldly important, )not eternally important), stuff. “If you’re going to grow in living a life that is pleasing to God, you must come to the point when you decide, ‘If I don’t accomplish anything else, I am determined that I will live my life for an audience of one. I am going to please God. This is the one thing I am going to do.’”  Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not a game that is played on Sunday.  It is the essence of eternal life.  Why would Jesus use words like, the Word of God is “Living”, “Living Water”, and the “Bread of Life”?

So you have to ask “how does a person please God and what pleases God? Essential to pleasing God is repenting and turning away from sin, seeking forgiveness of Jesus Christ for the sinful life that had been lived, following, trusting in, relying on, and clinging to Jesus Christ, taking care of the widows, orphans, and the poor, giving generously, and surrendering your will to the will of God. All of these “God Pleasing” actions are things you do every living moment of every day to honor and glorify Jesus Christ.  To think we can give a head nod toward Jesus on Sundays and think we are pleasing to God is nothing more than a deception and living a lie.

Recount all of the activities of your last week.  Were you doing that which is pleasing to God or self?  Were you doing it as unto the Lord or self? Did it honor and glorify Jesus Christ or was it done to honor and glorify self? Were you seeking and desiring to do all you could every single moment of every day to please Him? If “Pleasing Him” is not first most in your heart and mind, then something else has taken its place.

Wake up each morning with the Living Word and drink full of the living water and eat of the bread of life seeking to do that which honors and glorifies Jesus Christ throughout the day.  This is pleasing to God.  At the end of the day think about all of the things God allowed you to experience to honor and glorify Jesus and then give thanks to God for that day. This is pleasing to God.  Living to be pleasing to God will not allow one’s self to be neglectful or complacent in studying His Word or for doing that which pleases Him.  Jesus Christ is truly worthy of honor and glory every minute of every day.

5.q. “Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”

Job 14:1  “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.

Psalms 103:15-16     As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

James 4:14    yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

1 Peter 1:24    for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

Psalms 144:4    Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Human life, though intense and beautiful in many ways, comes and goes in a season. Even the most productive, most privileged, most adventurous of mortal lives begin to fade just as they get underway.  This is understood and grieved by people of every culture, every generation, and every belief system. Human life is achingly temporary.  Scripture continually reminds us that God has provided (by grace and through faith in Christ) a true home and a secure future on the other side of this temporary life. In Him, we have hope of a future without end.  We must mentally engage in setting all of our hope in God’s future grace for us. We must choose to act as those who are God’s own people, rejecting the evil desires that drove our actions before we knew better. Our choices matter. Our God placed a high value on our lives, paying for them with the blood of Christ. Since God has made us able, we must now strive to earnestly live with our heart, mind, and soul focused on eternity and not the temporary things this world has to offer.

If you have ever raised children you are very aware of their lack of understanding time.  10 minutes or 10 years are the same because they have no point of reference or understanding of time.  Likewise, we as adults, have little to no point of reference or understanding of our length of days this side of eternity and eternity future.  Scripture gives us a glimpse of a reference when it says “ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow”.

We do well to live out our faith in Christ with hope in eternity future and less hope on what this world has to offer.