A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day March 11, 2019
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
There is a modern smart phone term called “selfies” that represents taking pictures of yourself, and maybe someone else with you, but the main emphasis is primarily about you. Selfishness has from the beginning of time been a problem with humans. It causes us to forget about other people and concentrate too much on ourselves. It also causes us to limit and restrict the total picture.
An example of this “selfie” attitude as it relates to scripture is that many of us read the Word of God selfishly. I did it for years until God revealed to me how I was restricting and limiting His Word. The first time this was revealed to me was when I was praying for my young son to be healed. As I prayed, the following verse, which I had previously memorized, came out of my mouth:
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. (Proverbs 4:20-22)
As I prayed for my son, the Lord reminded me that my son was flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones. So, this scripture was not just limited to me alone. I would bet that most people read this scripture selfishly, just like I did. God is much bigger than we think!!! When He showed me this I knew instantly that my son would be fine. That’s how important this concept is.
We just finished one of the most important set of devotionals that I think we have ever written. They were about the Book of Job and we encourage you to go to our website and read them in our media archive section if you missed them. The main theme of these devotionals is spiritual warfare (not suffering) and how the enemy is trying to steal God’s goodness. That whole series brought this “selfie” topic back up to me again. Let me explain.
One of the most quoted scriptures related to spiritual warfare is John 10:10 which says the following:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
We read John 10:10 like it’s all about the enemy attacking us personally. What if that is only partially true? Are we missing something really big by reading this scripture selfishly? Are we missing the big picture? Well, as I read and studied the Book of Job I came to the conclusion that we are definitely missing a great truth. Satan is not just trying to steal from us but he is trying to steal from God also. He is trying to steal God’s goodness!!!
The value of gold is measured by the number of karats; parts of gold; % of gold; and millesimal fineness. As karats go up, the rest of the measurements go up also. The highest ranking of gold purity is 24K which pushes the millesimal fineness up to the highest level of 999. Value is diminished in direct proportion to the reduction in purity. In other words, if Satan can cause the pure goodness of God to be reduced to a lower percentage of purity then he has stolen some of God’s goodness and thereby reduced the effectiveness (or fineness) of God’s words. He does that by causing us to believe that God may not be good all the time. Satan has won the battle if he can get you to believe that way because you are now double-minded.
Here is my belief. God is pure goodness and pure fineness! He is good all the time! There is no darkness in Him! His thoughts and plans for us are for good and not for evil! Jesus is the shepherd of good and was anointed to do good! Those are my beliefs and I am sticking with them and thanking God every day for His goodness!!!!
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. (John 10:14)
