Musing 142

I had once of those fun, but ever so dangerous online conversations about Reformed Theology this week on Romans 9, and this week’s gospel reading for my annual Bible reading plan included John 10, which has this statement - “you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” This sentence fragment illumines much.

Too often the non-Reformed say in effect “you become a sheep when you believe in Jesus”, but Jesus instead flips that reality on its head. His sheep are already His, and they come to Him when they hear Him call.

I myself can attest to this from my own life. I grew up PCUSA, and when I became a Christian through reading the Scriptures, I quickly grew dissatisfied with the church, though I couldn’t fully articulate why. As I look back, I recognize that it was a simple reality - I preferred the church library because that’s where I could hear the Shepherd’s voice. Sometimes faintly, sometimes loudly, but never from the pulpit in that building.

The Shepherd knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him and His voice. And when He calls, they come. As we go into the world, may we always seek to have an echo of the Shepherd’s voice in our words.