"...never follow a stranger..."

Continuing to read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me..."

Our world is full of voices, both literal and metaphorical, that are saying "come to me." Sometimes it's a cacophony of whispers, sometimes it's a shouting match, sometimes one or another voice rises above the others with great insistance. What do I do with all the voices?

In the midst of the voices Jesus says "come to me." Hearing one voice in a crowd is a matter of familiarity. We can enter a room full of people and immediately pick out the voice of the one we know and love. Jesus said that "his sheep follow him because they know his voice" (John 10:4). If we don't want to be thrown off or misled by the confusion of voices the onus is on us to become accustomed to Jesus' voice, to the way he speaks, the kind of themes he addresses, the values he has, the way he puts out a warning, the way he expresses his love. If I don't know him very well then any voice might sound like his voice, particularly if I want it too.

After Jesus says that "his sheep know his voice" he goes on to say "they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize the stranger's voice" (John 10:5). Parents are always shocked to find that their children would go off with a stranger. It takes time for children to learn that not every kind voice or every kind offer is genuine, is reflective of that parental love that they have become used to. In the same way it takes time (in some cases a long time and a lot of hard lessons) for the Christian to be able to discern the difference between Jesus and the spiritual stranger.

When times of great anxiety and need, or offers of great opportunity, come to us it is easy to confuse the voices and find ourselves going down a road that can only lead to grief. The remedy for this is to invest in the relationship. Get to know Jesus very well. Be intentional about your daily time with God.

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me..." (John 10:14). We are not safe just because Jesus knows us, because Jesus is willing to let us go a long way from home if that is what we really want.

Get to know Jesus and "never follow a stranger...".