June 30, 2016 (Thursday)
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 NIV).
I think that when the Lord looks on the huge cities of today, teeming with millions of souls, he sees them as he saw those described above: “sheep without a shepherd.” Like a shepherd cares for his sheep, so the Lord wants to care for us. He knows we need feeding and so identifies himself as the bread of life and water of life (John 6:35; John 4:14). He knows we need healing and therefore cares for us when we are wounded by sin. He knows we are tempted to wander and as our Good Shepherd brings us back to the fold when we stray.
He cares about his sheep, aware of our sinfulness yet seeing our potential. A song heard in church asks, “Does Jesus care?” and answers, “Oh, yes, he cares. I know he cares. His heart is touched by my grief.” He sees our helplessness and helps us. Another song testifies, “No one ever cared for me like Jesus; there’s no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cares for me.”
He wants to save the sheep that are lost. They have many needs, but none so great as the need for eternal salvation. He saves those who want to be saved, and come to him in faith, believing him to be the son of God who died and rose from the dead to save them. “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (Jn 6:37).
You can become one of his own today. You can believe in him and be saved, “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).