John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
     Jesus is the Door and the good Shepherd in Jesus’ parable. He’s a good shepherd because He will do whatever it costs to save His sheep—even to laying down His life. He is prophesying what He will do to save us and give us abundant life. God’s love: the sustained direction of the will (He lays) toward the highest good (salvation) of others (the sheep) no matter what the cost (His life). What a good shepherd we have!  We are His sheep. We are saved!  We are loved! Jesus, You are good indeed!

Live to Love Scripture Encouragements

Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 10.11

1 John 2:11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
My guess is that most of us have tripped over something in the dark. That’s the scene John painted in this verse as he described those who have hatred in their hearts for a brother or sister. When someone walks in darkness, he can’t see where he’s going—namely, to Judgment Day when he will give an account of his life to Jesus. John said he’s not only walking in the darkness, he is in the darkness. 
Jesus described the person who walks in darkness as someone who also has the darkness in them. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). When we live for self, we are consumed with the darkness of unbelief—the lack of faith in God. That inner darkness is revealed on the outside by a hatred for one’s brother or sister. Jesus taught that those who live in the inner darkness will eventually be thrown into the outer darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). 
Presently, we who live to love with Jesus as walking in the Light because we have the Light of His life dwelling within. With Jesus, we are the outer light to those who are in the darkness and therefore walk in darkness. As long as the darkness in them is the “light” or the guide to how they live, they cannot see His love revealed in Christ or in us. However, at any point, God can open the eyes of their hearts to see His light. There is still hope for them as long as the outer light shines. We pray for God to open their eyes to the Light of His love in Christ and in us as we live to love them with Jesus.

The one who hates is in darkness


John 6:27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
We have a wonderful, sure, assurance that we have eternal life if we believe in Jesus. Let’s navigate through this verse, one truth at a time.
First, we will learn in the following verses that Jesus is the food that endures to eternal life. He’s the bread of life. The crowd pursued Jesus because of the earthly food, the multiplied fish and bread they had received. They were working for an earthly kingdom and for food that perishes. If the purpose of our lives is rooted in something temporal, then we are working for food that perishes. That’s why I believe our highest purpose as human beings is to work to glorify God by living to love with Jesus. That purpose never perishes, can’t be taken from us, and will sustain us forever.
Second, pursuing glorifying God by living to love with Jesus endures to eternal life. In fact, it is eternal life. Knowing the Father and the Son is eternal life (John 17:3). Loving with Jesus is how we know Him. The only way we can love with Him is to abide in Him, be discipled by Him, live out of His fullness. That’s eating the True Bread. He gives us eternal life, Himself, who is ours forever.
Third, Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, His favorite title for Himself. The title communicated that He was the Messiah. The One sent from God to be the Savior of the world. Our confidence in Jesus as the Son of God, the Son of Man, is the Father’s validation or seal that He set upon Jesus. Although the works of God that Jesus did were the Father’s witness to Jesus’ Sonship, there were three times recorded in the gospels where God “set His seal” on Him.
Matthew 3:17 “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”
Matthew 17:5 “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’”
John 12:28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 
If you have not believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the authorized giver of eternal life, then please consider what Jesus said in this verse. You’re wasting your life working for food that perishes. He said He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to the Father in John 14:6, which echoes this same truth here in John 6:27. You need eternal life! Temporal earthly life is just that—temporal. You’ll lose it someday. The crowd following Jesus didn’t get who He was and what He had to give. Do you? I hope you’ll tune in regularly to the Live to Love Scripture Encouragement podcast the next several days as we draw eternal life encouragements from John 6. 
I’m inviting you to rethink your purpose in life. You were made to glorify God and the only way for God to receive glory through your life is by living to love with Jesus instead of living for yourself, for your own glory. Jesus said that it’s impossible to believe in Jesus if you seek glory for yourself from men. Their setting their seal of approval on you, means nothing. You receive it, and it is gone. It perishes. But if you live out of the life of Christ, God will set His eternal seal of approval to your work because it is united with Him, upon whom He has already set His seal. That confidence is assuring, encouraging, and enduring. Won’t you surrender your life to Him today and work for the food that does not perish?


Don’t work for the approval of man

This is the monthly blog by Norm Wakefield from www.livetolovewithjesus.com. To love like Jesus loves, one must believe and think the way Jesus believed and thought. This month, Norm, unpacks the first of three foundational truths that Jesus believed that are the bedrock of loving with Him.

Don’t work for the approval of man

Norm Wakefield

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