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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Lent #18: recognizing the Voice

John 10: 4
When all the sheep have been gathered, he walks on ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. The sheep would not be willing to follow a stranger; they run because they do not know the voice of strangers. But they know and follow the shepherd's voice. 

To discern and recognize the voice of Christ is a sign of spiritual maturity.  Discernment is not a spiritual gift given only to some--although some will be given this gift specifically--discernment is a characteristic of a deep and mature faith.

Knowing the voice of the Christ comes only after being present to Christ for a time.  The friends we know most do not have to say their name when we answer the phone. We recognize their voices. We know who of our family is walking in the door by how their step sounds on the porch.  We can tell who a stray piece of paper belongs to by the handwriting of a co-worker that we have known for a season.
Knowing someone comes in time and we being to recognize their marks.

If someone comes to me and says--your husband said this or this today. I can either tell if it is an accurate representation of him because I know the kinds of things he talks about and how he says them. I can say--yes! that sounds like him. Or I can say, I think you may have misunderstood--talk to him again about this. Because I know who he is and what he would say.

In the same way, we learn the voice of Christ and over time we can discern what is of God and what is not. This is dangerous work because many people have suffered because of someone else claiming to know God's word.  We only recognize Christ at the place of our humility, remembering that we do not hold the corner on truth.  But God's voice and response is knowable to us. 
As we grow, we can listen to another and have a sense in us if this is something that God would say or not. 

Our only cares in listening and knowing is that we listen with others--not in isolation--, we are immersed in the story of God--reading, reflecting, studying--and that we listen over a length of time.  When we listen to God over our lives, the voice becomes clearer and clearer.

We practice recognizing the voice of the Shepherd.

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