“My sheep hear My voice. . .”

One summer day In the 1930’s, my grandfather discovered a dozen of his sheep missing. A neighbor told him where they’d been spotted. Making his way through the forest and the back roads so no one could see him, he found the sheep. He recognized them immediately, and he knew they were his.

But my grandfather was stumped. How should he proceed? He confided in an attorney friend, and asked advice, but was met with a very negative reply: “Sheep all look the same. How can you prove these were yours?”

“Come with me.”

My grandfather and the attorney walked the short distance to the field where many sheep were grazing. And leaning on the split rail fence, my grandfather spoke to them.

The attorney wasn’t ready for what happened next. While the rest of the flock just ignored him, all twelve of my grandfather’s sheep came to him at the fence.

“We have a case,” the attorney said. But there never was never a trial.

In a small town news travels fast. And when the family of the thief learned what had happened, his brother soon showed up at my grandfather’s farm with the money to pay for the sheep.

I never forgot that story, for it illustrates well what happens when a person is a follower of Christ–one of HIS sheep. He knows, or recognizes the Shepherd, and follows the sound of His voice, because he trusts the Shepherd.

You may have heard about the Good Shepherd. You may even have memorized the 23rd Psalm. But are you following Jesus?

Do you see how gentle Jesus is with His sheep?
Do you see how He lays down His life for His sheep?
Do you not long for the peace of knowing you will be well cared for as His sheep?

Ultimately, Jesus says, this whole issue of salvation is a matter of ownership. “You do not believe because you are not one of my sheep.” John 10:26

Whose sheep are you?

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
John 10:27-30


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