“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. -John 10:14-16 NRSV
It would be hard to find a clearer passage to support the idea that true spirituality is actually knowing God. Yet even today, many years after I first came to know God, I find it surprising that Jesus speaks of our relationship with him in the same light as his with the Father. I know him more today than yesterday but feel that I have so much more to know.
I love how Jesus speaks of having "other sheep". In my thinking he is speaking of the gentiles, non-Jews who would hear his voice and follow him. Yet, in the end, the Lord Jesus speaks to us of belonging to one flock following one Shepherd. That thought reminds me that there will be a day when our theological differences will melt into the light of God.
Help those who know you, and hear your voice, to find paths of unity and blessing.
... this devotion is part of an ongoing series on the Gospel of John.
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