"[The shepherd] calls his own sheep by name and leads them out... I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." (Jn. 10:3, 9)
I love this passage, even though it's a bit confusing with the mixed metaphors. Several times Jesus explains that the difference between his sheep and those that aren't is that his sheep know his voice, listen to it, and follow him.
In the statements above, the sheep aren't kept pinned up in the security of the fold. Jesus moves them out into the open pasture and then back to the pen. They many not feel as safe in the pasture as in the pen, but it is out in the pasture that they get the most nourishment.
To follow Jesus requires leaving the pen. I will feel insecure at times with the threats around me in the world, but I will trust that I am safer with the Shepherd in the pasture than with the thieves in the pen (v. 1, 28).
Lord, make me sense your protective presence as I follow you out into the pasture of your world. Amen.
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In case you've been wondering, I haven't quit the journal. I have just been insanely busy trying to get our house ready to sell on top of the mission activities.
My point is not that the pen is a bad place to be, unless the Shepherd is leading me out. If I choose to stay in the pen the whole time, I'm not following the Shepherd. That makes me a prime target for the thieves and robbers who slip into the pen with me.
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