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By Mike Caton

John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

The good shepherds gives his sheep more blessings than they can count, and he gives them better blessings than they can imagine. And the blessing Jesus talks about here is eternal life. We need to remember that every human already has eternal life, our flesh and bones will wear out and stop working and physically, we will die. But our spirit, our soul, will live forever. The thing we need to be concerned about is where our soul will live. What Jesus is saying here is that he will give us eternal life with him, with the Father, in heaven. And he is talking about his sheep here.

And Jesus gives us the assurance no one will snatch us out of his hand. We can be safe and secure, we can be confident that nothing will take us away. Paul later will ask the question, “What will separate us from the love of God?” And he tells us that there is nothing in all creation that can do that. He writes in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Once we come to Jesus, once we submit ourselves to him, once we are his sheep and in his fold, we can rest assured that we are in his hands, that we are safe.

But there is one more thing to consider. While no one can snatch us out of his hand, we can willingly jump out. We can choose to uncommit ourselves to God, we can leave him (though he will never leave us). But I suppose the real danger in leaving God’s hand is much more subtle. Most folks don’t wake up one morning and decide to leave Jesus. Most folks simply slip away, little by little. We quit doing the little things that we know we ought to do, we become slacker and slacker in keeping God as our priority. We allow the things of the world to creep in with more and more influence. We let ourselves get closer and closer to the edge. And then one day, if we really think about it, we are no long in that relationship with God that we are called to be in. We need to stay as close to the center of God’s hand as we can.

Father, thank you for holding me, and help me to hold on as well. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Mike Caton is the preacher at Mount Olive Church of Christ in Belhaven. He volunteers at the Ponzer Fire Department and works part time with Hyde County EMS. If you would like to receive daily devotions in your inbox, email mikecaton@centurylink.net.

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