"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they know me." (John 10:37).

It is amazing how the Lord compares us to simple sheep which know nothing but wandering around. When cows go out to pasture, they follow a certain track, but sheep wander anywhere. Jesus says we are like sheep! His words, "And they follow me," suggest recognition. Sheep will not follow anyone who is not the shepherd. The shepherd knows his sheep, and they know him.

I once heard an impressive story of an actor who was asked to recite the Twenty-third Psalm. He knew it well and moved his audience to great feeling. As a result he received great acclaim for his oratory. Then a godly, white haired man was asked to come to the stage and recite Psalm 23 as well. He did not have the fluency, nor could he lift the audience as the actor had done. But little by little, tears began to trickle down the people’s faces, and even the actor was affected. After it was all over, the actor said: "I can see the effect of the reciting of the Psalm. I moved you to feeling, but the old man moved you to tears. I’ll tell you the difference: I know the Psalm, but he knows the Shepherd."

What a difference! We follow Him not because we have heard about Him, but because we know Him. We are strong in our Christian life as we are strong in our personal relationship to Christ. St. Paul says, "That I might know him, and the power of his resurrection." (Philippians 3:10)

I am glad that we can know Him–and follow Him. A woman was singing a solo part in Handel’s Messiah and was doing well when the conductor stopped her and asked: "Do you believe what you are singing, ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’?" She replied, "I do." "Then sing it as if you knew it," he said. And what a tremendous difference it made when she sang from her heart! Yes, we follow Him because we know Him.

It takes faith for sheep to follow their shepherd, faith to believe that His ways are better than theirs. In the East, the shepherd always goes ahead of his sheep. Suppose that some of the sheep would think that they knew better than their shepherd and say, "He is taking us over that winding hill again, the same way he took us yesterday. Why doesn’t he let us decide for ourselves once in a while? We have about finished up that old pasture." No, they follow him! They who follow Christ have faith in Him and are absolutely at rest with no anxiety. One rendering of Philippians 4:6 is: "Be anxious for nothing." That is the way of sheep.

It is good to have faith, not in circumstances, but in Jesus. The sheep follow their shepherd because they trust him. They will not follow a stranger. You cannot hire a child of God to take any other course than that of following Christ.

The sheep are entirely dependent upon the shepherd. They rely on him for four essentials–pasture, shade, rest, and water. In our Christian life, we, too, need pasture, streams, shade, and rest. If we lack any of these, we suffer. God says He will feed us day by day. I like the account in the Old Testament of gathering of manna. "Don’t gather enough for the morrow," God said. "I will give it to you fresh every day." (Exodus 16:16-18).

In the days of our Savior in the flesh, a poor man feeds himself first, the mother comes next, the children then eat what they can find. Finally, if there is anything left over, the dogs get it. Of course, there is not much left over, and, consequently, the poor dogs are skin and bones. Many so-called Christians are like that. They do not feed on Christ and His Word. They live in a rush life instead of coming under the shadow of the Almighty. They are as the skinny dogs instead of fat sheep.

Which are you? You are whichever you choose to be. I choose to follow Jesus, be obedient to His Word, and feast on the food that He provides for His sheep.

The sheep automatically go with the shepherd, but we make a choice to follow the Lord wherever He leads us. The Israelites had gone round and round a certain mountain, and God said to Moses: "You have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward." (Deuteronomy 2:3).

Many of us are like that. We never seem to get out and beyond ourselves and the shallow experience in our spiritual life. We know nothing about going out where there is progress. If we follow Christ, we will go on from grace to grace and will have more joy and power. But we all have to choose to follow Him. He will not force us to follow Him. We choose to take His way because we desire to and know it is in our best interest to do so. As His sheep, we say: "Shepherd, You make the turnings wherever You want to. I am resigned to Your will."

Many years ago, an old Alabama farmer was heard praying: "Lord, you are the needle, I am the cotton. Where you go, I will be right along behind you." He could not do otherwise, their relationship was so close. It is lovely when we resign ourselves, not to a denomination, not to a theory, but to God; when we let self go and let Him take over our spiritual life. In our Christian life, we must follow God only, no one else! How beautifully everything runs when there is singleness of purpose and control!

God has put all things under His supreme control. We must have singleness of purpose. We must get beyond ourselves, from the ups and downs, and get our eyes upon God and His power to help us. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, promises us: "You shall go in and out and find pasture." (John 10:9) That is satisfaction to the sheep who are hungry.

Three thousand sheep were being transported to Australia. They were fed dry hay and were satisfied with it, until they got near enough to the shores of Australia to smell the fresh green grass. Then they refused the hay. "How is that?" said the men. "They were hungry for the hay before; now they won’t take it." The scent of the fresh grass made them discontented with the dry hay, and they went around sniffing and sniffing the air. When they were let off in Australia, they made a dive for the hills of green grass. It is the same with us. We cannot be satisfied with anything of this world. We want God, and He gives us more an enough. He satisfies. Praise His name!

The sheep belong to the shepherd, and the shepherd belongs to the sheep. They are identified one with the other. You cannot separate them. So we can be identified with Christ in His sacrifices, in His zeal, in His prayer life, in His humility, compassion, and love. The question is, Are we identified with Him? We may belong to a certain denomination, but do we belong to Him? Are we identified as a Christian in the community-at-large? When we identify with Him, we also identify with each other. There already exists unity–one with Him and one with His sheep. Jesus prayed: "That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in You." (John 17:9-11).

Unity is a BIG word in its implications for us all. We are united, we have a common bond in our faith. It is because of this bond that somehow our lives should be different, and our lives should make a difference. Yes, with all our diversity, with all our differences, we are UNITED. We are all children of God. Our challenge is to continually care for and love one another . . . whether we be Judaic or Gentile believers, rich or poor, old or young, Asian or African, male or female.