Daily Word

As you follow the Light you will eventually come to a door, "the door into the fold of the sheep." It is the gate of salvation: "if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved."

It is the door into the spiritual Reality. Man was created to live in this Reality. It is the "sheepfold" where we truly belong, our rightful home.

What is the significance of this "door"?

The strange thing is that Jesus Himself, the "Shepherd," who is "the Door," says that He Himself "enters by the door." And he who does not enter by this door is "a thief and a robber," who "comes only to steal and kill and destroy."

This is very much alike the word about "the false prophets, who come to you in sheep´s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Matt.7:15).

What is "a ravenous wolf" looking for?

To fill his own belly!

These are the ones who come in their "own name," receive "glory from men" and "do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God" (Jn.5:43,44), "they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose god is their appetite," as Paul says with tears in Phil.3:18-19.

But Jesus did not come of Himself or speak from Himself, and did not seek his own glory, only "the glory of the One who sent Him. Therefore, "He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." There was simply nothing of his own, nothing self-made with Him.

Everything He was and everything He did came from the Father, was done in the deepest dependence of Him and complete obedience to Him and only had the goal to please Him.

So completely did Jesus enter through this "door" in everything He did, that He Himself is "the Door." This is "the narrow gate" into the rich life in the Spirit, where you loose your false, self-made and self-centred life as you follow Jesus. You will be truly "saved, and will find pasture" – the spiritual nourishment that only the Good Shepherd can give.

The result is "Life," yes, abundant life (10:10)!