“My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish” John 10:27-28
When Jesus says My sheep hear My voice, and follow Me -He wants that to be true.
After all, we live in a very noisy world these days. The world is filled with all kinds of different voices, all competing for our attention. It seems difficult in the mess of all the noise to hear the voice of our Shepherd.
Every day, we hear several different voices competing for our attention, and some of them are really good at convincing us to pay attention. There are people who create advertisements geared just toward us. They convince us that we need whatever they are selling, to be safe, to be popular, to be successful, or to feel better. Modern technology and social media mean that companies know us better than they ever have, and they use that information to convince us that we need whatever they have.
It’s no doubt there are voices that make promises they can’t keep. There is only one true shepherd, that keeps promises he cannot break. And when we choose to only listen to that voice it becomes the only voice that matters to our souls. That voice is our Savior Jesus Christ.
There are many other competing voices that can drown out the Saviors voice we don’t always take the time to listen for His voice. Because Jesus is not saying what we expect. We expect Jesus to act differently. It’s like putting Him in a box, we are trying to limit Him to human rules, expectations, and understanding.
These days, it’s challenging to listen to anyone or anything with an open mind. As soon as anyone speaks to us, we are listening for their agenda, or for evidence of how they view the world. So many things people say are taken out of context, and we make up our minds about what they are saying, sometimes even before they finish. That’s the nature of the world we live in. And this is why it is more important than ever to listen to Jesus with an open mind and heart. Not to listen for what we expect Him to say, but to simply listen. To let our minds be changed along with our hearts. To put aside all the voices in the world, and listen for the living voice of our true Shepherd.
Sometimes we don’t hear Jesus because we are too ashamed to listen. When I first chose to follow Jesus, I didn’t do it because I received a miracle, it was because I had tried everything else, and it failed. Jesus was my last hope. When He began talking to me, the words were painful, and more often than not I was ashamed of the words He was saying. I had to relive all the mistakes I made throughout my life, but at the same time He was healing my broken soul. My sins made me feel naked and ashamed, and I was tempted to hide myself from God, so I could miss hearing His voice.
I know people who won’t enter a church because they are ashamed and want to “get their act together.” But, Martin Luther King reminds us, “Church is not a hotel for saints, it is a hospital for sinners. We have to acknowledge that not one of us is worthy, and many don’t have their acts together. God gives us grace, mercy, and love, and through what Jesus did on the cross we are made worthy.
Jesus tells us Revelation 3:20, “I am standing at the door, knocking, if you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”
I believe Jesus is outside the fellowship of most people because of their self-reliance and offers us restoration and intimate communion to anyone who is willing to listen. Hearing His voice involves responding to His calling, correction, and truth, rather than an audible sound.
From Pity to Praise 