"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
John
10: 1-10
The sheep follow him because they
recognize his voice. But God does not yell at us. He does not scream. He does
not raise his voice. God speaks to us through a still, small voice. Knowing
this, the evil one has filled our lives with as much noise and distraction as
possible. There are a million different things vying for our attention.
Turn on any television. The average
thirty minute program is less than twenty-two minutes long. What fills the remainder
of the time? Advertisements. Advertisements that tell you what to eat, what to
watch, how to look, how to smell, how to act, and even how to think. You cannot
open a paper or a magazine or even drive down the road without being inundated by
advertisements all trying to manipulate you into buying that one thing that
will make you truly happy. And yet, this generation has the lowest happiness
level ever. How can this be?
We have forgotten what true
happiness really is. A good working definition of happiness is the feeling you
get when an expectation is met. We are really happy when an expectation is
exceeded. There is such a level of unhappiness in the world these days because
our expectations are not being met. We buy the latest weight loss product but
we don’t lose weight. We are unhappy. We buy the latest fashion hoping to be
noticed and we are unhappy when we aren’t. We buy the coolest car or the latest
phone or the newest gizmo looking for satisfaction but satisfaction is
fleeting. And now the biggest trend in this manipulation of thought is with
prescription drugs. There seems to be a pill to cure anything that ails us. Do
you want beautiful skin? There is a pill for that. Do you want to lose all of
that stubborn belly fat? There is a pill for that. Want to re-grow all of that
hair you have lost? Yup, there is a pill for that too.
The devil did not start by filling
our lives with noise. A truly happy person does not go out looking for
something to make them happy. The devil started by changing our expectations. Not
all at once, but slowly over time. He capitalized on the pride, vanity, greed,
and laziness that are all part of our fallen nature to change our expectations
from something real to something unattainable. Once expectations are
unattainable happiness is unattainable. Once happiness is unattainable misery
and grief fill the void where love once lived.
The devil is a thief, a robber, and
a liar. Do not be deceived by him. His way leads to misery and grief. Follow
the Shepherd instead. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In him
expectations are exceeded past anything you thought possible. But he will not
yell and scream at you to get your attention. His sheep know his voice and know
to follow him. Make the time to turn off the distractions of the day. Shut down
the screens, turn off the noise. Listen for that still, small voice calling you
to have life and to have it more abundantly. Real happiness does not come from
having more stuff. It comes from recognizing more of God’s infinite love poured
out in your life.
If today you hear the voice of the
Lord harden not your heart.
