Wednesday Words of Encourage - Be a Sheep

 John 15:9 - As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 

I have some questions for you this morning. I've read this verse thousands of times and yet, have missed something here.

How does God, the Father, love Jesus the Son?

What does that look like?

How do you remain in God's love?

Don't just gloss over it. Dig deep and wrestle with the key meaning behind these words.

I love the Lord and I long to continually go deeper in my understanding of His word and His love. However, I often feel like I am just scratching at the surface. 

I don't know about you, but I was saved from a life that was headed the wrong direction. And I know many of you have the same story. Yet, we often can walk around in misery when we should be rejoicing. We have a head knowledge of God's love, but don't really understand what that looks like. 

When my children were little they used to snuggle down in their daddy's arms. God is our Heavenly Father and yet, if I'm honest, I often think that image doesn't seem respectful. It seems as if He is too holy to approach.

But I believe there is a reason that the image of a shepherd and sheep is used many times in Scripture. The shepherd picks up the sheep, pulls it into his chest and holds it secure with his arms wrapped tight around it. The shepherd pets and snuggles the sheep and at times, cradles it while it sleeps. That shepherd would do anything to protect the sheep. The sheep are secure and trusting and know the shepherd's voice.

May the Lord give us that same sense of being cradled. May we come to understand that the Lord embraces us, protects us, loves us and watches over us. Sheep trust the shepherd and look to him for all their needs. May we look to the Lord for all of our needs as well.

Be a sheep and trust the Good Shepherd.