Strength For Today – Day 11

₁₁“I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep. ₁₂When the hired man, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees a wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away; so the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. ₁₃The hired man runs away because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep. _14-15I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them. ₁₆There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

₁“Do not be worried and upset,” Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me. ₂There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. ₃And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. ₄You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.”

₅Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?”

₆Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me. ₇Now that you have known me,” he said to them, “you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him.”

₁₂My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. ₁₃The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. ₁₄And you are my friends if you do what I command you. ₁₅I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. ₁₆You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. ₁₇This, then, is what I command you: love one another.