Sheep don’t know a gate from a fence row. As a midwestern sheep farmer, I can tell you this for certain. A recent run-in with a wayward sheep proves my point. Because the proverbial grass is always greener on the other side, our sheep are constantly stretching their necks to try to nibble the grass outside the fence. Occasionally, one will barrel through the wire to get to the “good stuff” she’s been denied.
So it was that we discovered one of our sheep outside the pen one hot day this summer. The solution should have been easy. We simply opened the gate. But due to stubbornness or oblivion, the ewe remained outside the fold. We called and whooped, summoning her back to the comfort and safety of her flock. Instead, she kept ramming herself into the fence. Time and time again. The gate was wide open, but she defaulted to futile attempts to make her own way.
Creation is constantly teaching us (Romans 1:20), and when it comes to revealing who Jesus is, sheep are especially good instructors. No wonder Jesus frequently asked us to envision sheep pens as He revealed His identity as “the gate for the sheep” (John 10:7). Long before Jesus spoke these words, David, once a shepherd, saw the character of the Lord (and his own identity) illustrated through his flock: “The LORD is my shepherd; I have what I need” (Psalm 23:1).
The theme woven throughout Scripture is this: we are like sheep, prone to wander from the fold in search of false hope that can never fully satisfy. Because our Shepherd is good, the gate to salvation is open, but we’ll never find it on our own. We try to be self-sufficient, to do all the good deeds, and we may even convince ourselves for a time that we’ve got our stuff together more than someone else. But the reality is, when left to our own devices, we will just keep ramming ourselves up against false hope and good intentions.
Jesus shows us the gate—no, actually, Jesus is the gate. He is the way. Listen for His call. Submit to His leading. Quit stubbornly ramming yourself up against your own plans. Instead, look to Jesus and enter in. He whispers to us, “I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
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40 thoughts on "I Am the Gate for the Sheep"
My mother used to tell me to call people by name because they love to hear their name. There is something about being called by name that is special. When I come to my quiet place in the morning to greet my Lord and He welcomes me by name it stirs my soul. He looks me in the eye and calls me by my name. Yes, Lord, I hear your voice. Good morning and welcome to this day that we will spend together.
This morning I had the thought that I will never have to say ‘goodbye’ to Him. I never thought about that before. I hate saying goodbye. It always makes me sad, but I can say hello to Jesus every morning forever. How awesome is that!!
Good morning to you, too, my friends! Have a great day!
I love this! We will never say goodbye to Jesus, & He will never say goodbye to us!
Thankful for my Shepherd. Let me always know His voice. Amen.
My Shepherd and Gate.
You take care of me.
You lock me in at night for protection
and take me out through You in the morning
to the pastures You have chosen for me.
I long for the day that Churchmouse speaks of when consistently I do not look to other pastures or places.
My head knows I am in the best place when with my Shepherd,
Yet, sometimes, something in me gets distracted by things where I am not –
Like Paul, I seem to not do the good I want to do and do the evil I do not want to do.
Instead of being in the best place, I allow myself to go to the easy place, most alluring, or seemingly most pressing at that time.
My head rams the fence over and over again
or I try to push my way over or under,
sometimes to get out,
sometimes to get back to where I belong.
If I would just stop and listen for my name being called by the Shepherd, I will hear Him.
I will know the direction to go.
If I would stop and look, change my focus from the grass, or my friend sheep on the other side and focus on my Shepherd, the provider of all I need, I will see the Opening He has made for me.
Like dumb sheep…I make mistakes
My Shepherd is patient and loving
and, I am learning and getting better,
day by day. The nearer I stay to him, the better it always is.
And, I give thanks to the LORD
for his faithful love endures forever.
He hears me in my distress.
He is my faithful refuge,
My strength and my song,
He is my Salvation.
So when you hear worship and praise being blasted out over the hills and look up,
You will see The Shepherd,
with me, His lost sheep lovingly held, securely around his shoulders
being brought home
singing at the top of her lungs
for His faithful love endures forever
and I am His.
Beautiful…me too Angie
❤️
Beautiful! You write so well!
This also reminds me of Matthew 7:13-14. Enter through the narrow gate!
Thank you for the real life sheep example Erin. I can relate with it and the many times of ramming the fence with my own strength when the gate is already wide open.
I most definitely am a sheep. Jesus most definitely is the Shepherd. How grateful I am that He whooped and hollered at my soul to bring me to and through His gate (Himself)! Even when I read away and give myself a headache from ramming against the fence of His will trying desperately to try my way instead, He seeks me, leads me, and welcomes me back to Himself. His faithful love endures forever!
I’m impacted once again by John 10:4-5. The sheep know the voice of their shepherd and they follow that voice. They don’t trust or follow the voice of a stranger. It must be so with me and thus, why I study the Bible. I know Jesus is the gate and my good Shepherd. Jesus is the only way to salvation and it is His voice and His alone that I can trust. There are many voices clamoring around me, trying to get my attention, tempting me this way and that. I am not deterred because I know the voice of Jesus. He speaks to me through His Word. I hear Him most clearly the more I listen, the more time I spend in the pages of my Bible. Other pastures do not tempt me because I know I’m already in the best one. I recognize false teachers more readily because I know the voice and the teaching of the Truth. What’s even more remarkable is that Jesus knows me by name, my own name. We have a personal relationship. He calls and He leads me out. I stay close so that even when He whispers I hear His voice and am strengthened. Oh the sweetness of my quiet time, inside the gate of my Good Shepherd and then out as He leads me. Speak, Lord. How I love to hear your voice.
Love this Churchmouse! That’s one of the things I look forward to when I go to bed is my quiet time in the morning. Just me and Jesus.
Yes! Exactly how I feel too. The intimacy we experience with our Father is amazing and such a gift. It’s what makes Christianity a relationship versus a religion or a list of rules. So grateful for the gift!
My pastor and some of the other pastors from the different campuses are doing an 8 week study called, The Lord is My Shepherd. It’s been so good! Before he starts teaching, we stand and read Psalm 23 aloud from the King James translation. If you want to listen go to maog.org and hit listen live, go down to where it says, archive videos, and start at the first Sunday in September. You can forward through the worship or praise along with them. He truly is our Good Shepherd that laid down His Life for each of us! He is worthy of all praise, glory, and honor!
https://youtu.be/-c6pl6CaiD0