Thought for April 22

 History:

  • 1864: US mints 2 cent coin--first appearance of "In God We Trust"
  • 1876: Tchaikovsky completes "Swan Lake"
  • 1914: Babe Ruth pitches his first major league game--wins 6-0
  • 1915: First use of poison gas in war--Germany uses chlorine
  • 1934: 5,000 pastors and laypeople create the "Confessing Church" relying on the confessions of the Reformation rather than Nazi racial theories and propaganda
  • 1940: Admiral Joseph Taussig tetsifies before Congress that war with Japan is inevitable
  • 1966: Atlanta Braves win their first game
  • 1969: First human eye transplant
  • 1976: Barbara Walters becomes first female nightly network news anchor
  • 1993: Holocaust Museum dedicated
  • 1994: Largest Lollipop--3,011 pounds made in Denmark
  • 2018: Gunman kills 4 in Nashville Waffle House--James Shaw wrestles rifle away.
  • Born: Muhammad, Isabella, Henry Fielding, Immanuel Kant, Harold Jeffreys [theory of probability], Vladimir Nabokov ["Lolita"], Robert Oppenheimer, Eddie Albert, Hal March, Bette Page, Glen Campbell, Jack Nicholson, Marshawn Lynch
  • Died: Cervantes, Henry Royce, Jane Froman, Ansel Adams, Cesar Chavez, Richard Nixon, Erma Bombeck, Pat Tillman
Thought:
Looking at John 10:11--"the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." This is easy to see in the life of Jesus. He came to die for our sins and lay down His life for us, the sheep. The sheep are defenseless, blind, weak. Jesus came to die for them. We just celebrated this again at Easter. But is there more here?

Turn over a few pages to John 21:15-17. Jesus appears to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee. He is ready to talk to Peter, the one who denied Him. Notice that Jesus asks three times if Peter loves Him. Each time Peter says yes and Jesus tells him to tend or shepherd His sheep. Now put this together with Chapter 10. Jesus tells us that if we love Him we demonstrate it by tending or shepherding His sheep. And if we are good shepherds, we lay down our lives for the sheep. So here is what Jesus is saying to Larry today:
  • Larry, do you love Me? No, do you really love me? Do you love me more than any of these other people, places or things? Am I first in your priorities? 
  • Larry, if you love me, shepherd My sheep. Go to My sheep. disciple My sheep, love My sheep, teach My sheep, feed My sheep, protect My sheep. They are all My sheep, but you are to shepherd them--that means the little ones at church, the old ones in the class, the ones you meet on the street, the ones that are hurting and alone, the ones who feel helpless and hopeless, the ones that are under attack. 
  • Larry, a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He gives up his desires, his time, his resources so that the sheep flourish. Am IK really willing to lay down my wants and wishes for the good of the sheep?
Lord, help me be a shepherd just like You. 

Blessings
Larry

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