General News
25 May, 2025
In good faith
Read John 10:22-30. I remember my mother telling me that when I was a young boy, I was often off in my own little world.
If Mum asked me to do something, I’d respond, but it was clear I hadn’t been
paying attention.
Today my wife sometimes encounters the same problem!
Very often, we disregard what others have to say, in favour of what’s going on in our own
worlds.
And isn’t this most obvious when Jesus speaks to us?
In John 10 a group of Jews approached Jesus and asked Him if He was the Messiah.
He told them ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe.
The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe …’ (Jn. 10:25, 26).
Jesus had already told them who He was and demonstrated it by many miracles, but the Jews didn’t believe.
This isn’t just a Jewish problem.
Like children lost in their own focus instead of listening to their teachers, we too are lost in our own focus, deaf to the voice of Jesus.
Even the most devout Christian struggles daily with listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd!
At heart, we don’t want a Good Shepherd. We want someone who has no claim on us, with
no right to make demands of us.
We want freedom to walk in unrighteousness.
We want the freedom to ignore God, but to blame Him when we reap the consequences!
Knowing the Good Shepherd for who He is, can only come from listening to Him.
Jesus says ‘My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me’ (Jn. 10:27).
It is in the very nature of Jesus’ sheep to listen to Him – and to keep listening - through His Word, the Bible!
Even more important than us knowing Jesus, is the fact that Jesus knows us. He even knows
the number of hairs on our heads. He knows our fears, hurts and struggles.
And yet, He loves us and wants nothing more than for us to follow Him, our Good Shepherd.
And He is our Good Shepherd!
On Good Friday, He led us through the valley of the shadow of death by dying and rising to life that we may never perish but have eternal life.
‘My sheep listen to my voice’, Jesus said, ‘I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand’ (Jn. 10:27. 28).
Eternal life depends not on our feeble hold of Christ, but on His firm grip on us.
Eternal life cannot be earned or obtained, but only given as a gift.
And it is a gift Jesus has given to all who believe in Him.
He makes our life His own and His life our own.
As the Psalm says, ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever!’
– LUCAS MATUSCHKA