The Shepherd's Door

UV 681/10,000 The Shepherd’s Door “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door; into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and robber.” Luke 10 v 1 To emphasize what He was saying, Jesus who elsewhere described Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life, used the preamble “ truly, truly, I say to you.” He was speaking not just to the contemporary audience but to you and me. As a good shepherd, He laid his body down at the doorway of the sheep fold so that He could defend the sheep from any predator or other intruder. It also means that Jesus is Himself the door to eternal life, the door to Heaven, the door to the Kingdom of God. The one who enters by this door is the legitimate shepherd. Bill Gates gave us different versions of the Windows software to access computers. Jesus gave us one unchanging version of the Door to access our Creator-Father in all His glory. Jesus is also emphasizing an important principle –that God enters the lives of people only with their willing consent. Whoever enters by virtue of just religious conditioning or inherited belief or speculation or imagination is the one who climbs up some other way. He is an intruder, a thief and robber. A thief is not interested in the well being of the sheep. Such a belief can steal our peace and our blessings. Jesus Himself chooses to enter the lives of people in every generation only with their consent and knowledge. He does not run away like a hired worker when we confront danger. He is faithful till the end. He demonstrated it by consciously and willingly giving His life for the sake of the sheep. No one else has done this in human history. The martyrdom of the Good Shepherd is different from the martyrdom of every other person for they did not know the purpose or the hour or the manner of their death. Since the payment is final and full, no sheep is so black that it cannot enter His fold. When Jesus enters the fold, the sheep can recognize Him by His gentle wisdom, the surrounding peace and His love. The door is the symbol of an access point. We can access the fullness of God through Jesus. God does not gatecrash into people’s lives. He waits and knocks gently on the door of our hearts, minds and lives. If I believed in Him just because I was born in a Christian home, He would be making a back door entry and He has clearly stated that He will come in by the front door. But on 31st July, 1979 I heard His voice and opened the door of my heart to Him. When the Shepherd comes in, how do we benefit? Satan and his army of fallen angels are the thieves, robbers and killers who prowl the earth waiting for easy victims. We are protected from these dark predatory forces. He literally preserved me first, from a watery grave and then, in a powerful bomb blast. He feeds us from His Word. Every day He feeds us with a uni-verse. He leads us from one green pasture to another. He gives us one blessing after another. He takes us to still waters where we can refresh ourselves. We eat and drink from the trough of the Word. He also shears and harvests our wool, implying that He will enable us to be of service to others. He builds a close fencing around us so that some fox of deception does not bite a chunk of meat off our backs even while we are resting. The cross is the staff and rod that comfort us for while we all go through difficult terrain in life, nothing is as difficult or as painful or as shameful as the cross the Shepherd bore for us. Just as the sheep are branded with a mark, we are branded with a mark of the glorious cross. He is our strength from within and our help from without. Prateep V Philip https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images? q=tbn:ANd9GcT1aBya02aSUrQgWRJek49IQaMGRUAK9Ih1RstEiNl77W2J0XI Watch this video -link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZGRubkzUHw