Nobody wants to be called a sheep.
It implies you’re gullible. That you follow without thinking. That you’re part of a crowd moving in whatever direction the noise is loudest. In a culture that prizes independence, critical thinking, and personal authority, being a sheep sounds like the worst possible thing you could be.
I can totally understand the pushback given some of the shepherds people have had.
Many of us have given ourselves over to voices that led us somewhere we never should have gone. Some of those voices used us for their own gain, might have manipulated us using fear or flattery, and left us more wounded than when we found them. This teaches us to become suspicious of anyone who asks us to follow.
But as Christians we do not have just any ordinary shepherd.
Jesus makes a distinction in John 10 that we need to look at again and meditate on.
“He who does not enter the sheep fold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” — John 10:1-3
The thief doesn’t come through the door. He climbs over the wall. He finds another way in — through manipulation, deception, the promise of something that was never his to give. And at first can look so good and be so convincing. But eventually the sheep figure it out, because there’s something that just doesn’t seem right, something is off.
They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. — John 10:5
The sheep don’t follow the stranger because they know the real voice well enough to recognize the counterfeit. This discernment is born from intimacy.
Later in the same passage Jesus says something even more striking.
“I am the door of the sheep.” — John 10:7
Not just the shepherd — the door. The entry point. The way in and the way out.
And when you receive Jesus — when you join yourself to Him — Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:17 that he who is joined to the Lord has become one spirit with Him. The door isn’t just someone you walk through. He is someone you are united with. You always have access. You are never locked out. At any hour, in any season, in any condition — you can go in and out and find pasture.
“If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” — John 10:9
Then comes the contrast that defines everything.
“The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” — John 10:10
The enemy has always had the same mission statement. He comes to steal your dreams, kill your drive, and destroy your destiny. That’s not dramatic language — that’s a description of what happens when you follow the wrong voice long enough. You end up emptied of things that were meant to be yours.
Jesus comes with the opposite agenda. Life. Abundance. And He was willing to go to the cross to deliver on that promise.
Philippians 2 tells us Jesus emptied Himself, took on the position of a servant, humbled Himself — and was obedient even to death. He didn’t demand His rights or defend Himself before Pilate. He heard the Father’s voice and He followed it, all the way to the place that looked like defeat and became the doorway to everything!
I want to address something here, because I think we’ve gotten this wrong.
There’s a version of Christian teaching that talks about dying to self in a way that means dying to your personality, gifts, individuality — as if holiness looks like becoming less distinctly you. As if God is most pleased when you’ve erased what makes you you.
That’s not what Jesus modelled. He didn’t empty Himself of His personhood — He emptied Himself of His position. He willingly laid aside His divine privilege to come and serve. His character, His voice, His way of loving people — all of that remained entirely Himself.
When we lay our lives down before God, we are not surrendering our uniqueness. We are submitting our uniqueness — gifts, personality, and perspective — in service to the King. We are saying: all of this is Yours. Lead me with it. Use it for Your purposes.
God is not looking for conformity. He is looking for willing compliance with His divine plan.
Romans 12:1 puts it beautifully: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
A living sacrifice. Not a dead one. Not a personality erased. A life — your actual life, with all its colour and complexity — laid willingly on the altar as a reasonable response to the mercy you’ve already received.
That’s the humility God is after. Not performance. Not conformity. Willing surrender.
Psalm 23 says He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Ephesians 2:10 says we are His workmanship, created for good works that He prepared beforehand, that we would walk in them.
There is a path that was prepared before you arrived at this moment. And sometimes that path goes through dark places — through seasons of discouragement, confusion, loss. But even in those places, He has gone before you. And what He placed in the darkness isn’t abandonment. It’s treasure. A grace that was hidden there specifically for you, that will catapult you further than you ever could have gone had you avoided the valley entirely.
The good shepherd doesn’t avoid the hard terrain. God knows what you’re going through but He is going to lead you through it. He goes before you into it, making a way in the unknown and unchartered territory.
I was preaching this on a Sunday morning — talking about how our ears get trained to recognize sounds we’ve heard before. How if you’ve worked around a saw and you know the sound of metal being cut, you’ll recognize it instantly, even from a distance.
Right at that moment, without any warning, workers at the back of the building started cutting a metal door to size with a saw.
The timing was so precise it stopped the room. It felt less like an illustration and more like God putting His own exclamation point on the message.
He wants you to hear Him. Not just prophets and apostles — everyday believers. People like you, in ordinary moments, learning to recognizes a voice they’ve heard before.
Romans 8:14 says that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
Being led is not weakness. It’s sonship.
The sheep who knows the shepherd’s voice isn’t mindless, it just know’s it’s safe. It’s known by name. It’s being led somewhere good by someone who already gave everything to prove it.
So choose to be a sheep.
Not because you’re naive. But because you know whose voice you’re following and His plans and purposes for you are good.
Read each line slowly taking the time to let each line land. We are going to pray through it together. Make the prayer your own.
“The Lord is my shepherd”
Prayer: Lord, I make the decision today to trust You to lead me as my shepherd. Help me to make that decision every single day. I choose Your voice over every other voice competing for my attention.
Prayer: Lord, I declare today that as I follow Your voice, You will protect and provide for me. I will not live in a spirit of lack or fear. You are enough, and You are faithful.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures”
Prayer: Father, I surrender my striving to You. Teach me to rest in You as a daily posture of trust. Lead me to the places of restoration that only You can give.
“He leads me beside still waters”
Prayer: Lord, calm the noise in my life. Still the anxiety, the hurry, the distraction. Lead me to the quiet place where I can hear You clearly again.
“He restores my soul”
Prayer: Where I am weary, broken, or worn down — restore me, Lord. You know the parts of me that need healing. I trust You with all of my heart.
“He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”
Prayer: Father, I don’t want to wander. Lead me in the right paths — not just for my sake, but for Yours. Let my life bring honour to Your name.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”
Prayer: Lord, I acknowledge that not every path You lead me through will be easy. But I choose to walk through the valleys without fear — because You are with me. What You placed in the darkness is not abandonment. It’s treasure. I trust You in the hard places.
“For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that Your presence goes before me, behind me, and with me. Your correction is not rejection — it is love. I receive Your guidance and I welcome Your protection.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”
Prayer: God, I believe You can bring breakthrough in the very places where opposition has tried to stop me. You don’t just rescue me from the battle — You seat me at a table right in the middle of it. My enemies cannot stop the favour and promotion that You bring to me. I receive the honour You have prepared for me.
“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows”
Prayer: Lord, anoint me afresh today. Fill me so completely and overflow out of me and into the lives of everyone around me. I don’t want to just survive life, I want to overflow and pour out refreshing others.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”
Prayer: I declare today that goodness and mercy are constant companions. Every day, for all of my days, You are working things together for my good.
“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”
Prayer: This is my home. I belong to You. I live in Your presence now and for eternity. And because I am Yours, I choose today — and every day — to be a sheep who knows the shepherd’s voice.