John 10:3-To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

One of the most vivid things I remember from my childhood is hearing throughout the neighborhood moms calling their kids in for the evening. It was that call that would stop all activities, or just taking one last shot with the basketball before racing home. Many times disappointed because we were having so much fun, but we were being called home, which is where we belonged.

Before coming to Christ and sometimes after, life can be a lot like childhood, playing out all day in whatever your heart and mind wanted to do, enjoying it’s pleasures for a season, and suddenly you get your name called! Wondering why you wanted to stop doing what you were doing, because admit it was fun (at times at least). But that call was so intimate, so authoritative, that it could not be ignored!

This is how Jesus describes the hold He has on His sheep. That not just any parent could call a kids name and they respond with a desire to obey that voice, that would be weird. But when your parent calls you home you know who is calling you! It isn’t some stranger, you know their voice when they call your name!

Whether we are walking in great joy with our Shepherd or struggling with hard heartedness to submit to His voice, it is Christ voice that you will succumb to if you are His. He may organize our circumstances to make His voice louder, but that voice will reign over our bosses, pastors, spouses, parents, etc. His voice calls us to where we belong. Allow Christ to lead you out to green pastures and life in Him, because a stranger does not know you or what is best for you!

In His Love, Ld