The Good Shepherd

John 10:14-15, John 1:14, Psalm 119:105

"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15 NASB)

This is a fairly well known verse, so most of us know it or, at least, know the beginning of it. Or could at least paraphrase the first part of it. But how many of us actually pay attention to what it means? Jesus knows His own, but do we know Him?

Just so nobody is surprised in a couple days, this subject will be showing up as one of days of this week’s devotions. But it struck me as something which needs further explanation. And it struck me like that because I personally got convicted. I call myself a Christian but how much time do I genuinely spend reading the words of Jesus?

Over the past few years my thirst to study God’s Word has grown immensely. I still find myself struggling to just read the Bible. And, yes, there is a difference between reading the Bible and studying the Bible. I’ve done more study over the past 5 years than I had done in the previous 33 years combined, but I still struggle to sit down and just read. You know, like you’d read a James Patterson book, or something else as equally mind numbing.

Studying the Bible is kind of like doing a research paper on a person. You get to know the facts about that person, and you get to know things they’ve done in the past. Reading the Bible is more like spending time with the person and getting to know their character. You can study a person all you want but that won’t help you to know the person. That’s why we need to spend time with reading the Bible, so we can actually know Jesus, who is the Word of God (John 1:14).

While it makes me feel not-so-bad it’s also kind of disturbing to know that I’m not alone in this one. There are over 2 billion Christians in world, how many of those would you guess actually read the Bible like it’s the bestseller from the bookstore? I found a study that concluded that only 19% of professing Christians actually read the Bible every day. I do read the Bible every day, and I think that’s not really enough. What about the 81% of Christians who don’t read the Bible every day? Twenty-two percent of those say that they read the Bible about once a month or a few times per month. Eighteen percent of those people say that they “rarely or never” read the Bible. If we don’t spend any time with Jesus, how are we supposed to know His voice?

I have no answers here, just concerns. What are we going to do if we’re in a tough spot and our Lord and Savior is out there trying to tell us how to get through it, and since we don’t know what His voice sounds like we just think that He’s another voice in the crowd (Psalm 119:105)? And, even more importantly, have we really given our life to Jesus as our Lord if won’t even bother to get to know what He wants us to do? Or, have we just accepted His salvation and decided that’s good enough, we can figure it out from here?

So what do we do from here? I wish I had all the answers. But, I do know who has the answers. I guess that’s just another thing I’ll have to study. Until I figure it out, it seems like the best thing to do is to find a reading plan. Find a plan to read the whole Bible. Or maybe a plan to read the Gospels. Or you could find a plan to read the Torah. Read the whole New Testament. Read the whole Old Testament. Start small if you have to. Pledge to read a chapter each day, or pledge to read a book each day. No matter what you pledge to read, just read.

That’s my answer.