I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11).
How much do your worldly friends really love you? Movie or music stars you look up to? The employer who wants you to devote your life to climbing the corporate ladder? The cars, gadgets, carpet, or designer outfits you spend so much time dreaming about or delighting in?
Would they care about you if you crossed them? Do they care about you intimately, deeply, consistently? Forget giving their life for you, do they even know who you are? Are they even aware that you exist?
Pastor Justin Buzzard pointedly observes,
“Everyone has to live for something and if that something isn’t the one true God, it will be a false God—an idol… That idol that you love? It doesn’t love you back. Idols don’t keep their promises.”
But Jesus does! The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, calls them by name, and leads them into everlasting life.