Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Calling Pigs" for Wednesday, 30 July 2014 - Read John 10:1-5

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Calling Pigs" for Wednesday, 30 July 2014 - Read John 10: He Calls His Sheep by Name
10 1-5 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”
When [the shepherd] has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.(John 10:4 (NRSV))
As a little girl on the farm I was responsible for slopping the pigs; so I learned how to call them to the fence for their feast. Years later, when my family visited the restored village of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, my knowledge of calling pigs came in handy. As we strolled along a wide path toward a barn, we saw people standing on the fence, shouting and waving their arms. A herd of pigs huddled under the shade of a distant tree. The people were trying frantically to get the pigs to come to the fence. I calmly climbed up on the fence and used my “pig voice.” The whole herd of pigs came running to the fence. The tourists asked, “How did you do that?” I explained simply, “They knew the distinctive call and responded.” The same is true for followers of Christ. When we hear the distinctive call of the one who knows us by name, we respond because we know his voice. John 10:5 says, “They will not follow a stranger . . . because they do not know the voice of strangers.” We hear many voices in our lives, but only one, the voice of Jesus Christ our Lord, can lead us to the eternal feast.
The Author: Xavia Sheffield (Maryland, USA)
Thought for the Day: The Lord is my shepherd, and he knows me by name.
Prayer: Good Shepherd, when we hear you calling us by name, we know to come running to you for everything we need. Amen.
Prayer focus : New believers
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