Whose voice are we listening to?

Are we listening to the ones who say the truth or the ones who lie to have their ways done?

That would be hard to say if you do not know the source of their voice, but if you know is from a good one, you’ll trust. And, what if we wouldn’t know it is good? That’s easy. The Bible says: You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7.16)  So, we gather that it’s impossible that anything bad can come from the One who delivered us from eternal death, who wants everyone to live and even forgave the ones who killed Him: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23.34a)  But, what if our desires and selfish needs make us obey the wrong voices?  I guess we would have to experiment if there’s a way out. I’ll tell you what happened to someone:

A young lad was irritated about not being able to get whatever he wanted out of life so he left home cursing at everything and everyone around, his friends and especially his mother with whom he had a nasty argument. He sat under a tree on the way looking up angrily. As he mouthed silently, tears came to his eyes and started to see things. A coat hung on a gold hanger descended from the sky as a voice was heard: this coat is named I WISH; whoever wears it could have anything desired but the coat can never touch the floor for when it does everything will disappear. So he got up quickly and grabbed it before it hit the floor, took it out of the hanger which he hung on the tree and wore it. Frowning, he wished for a rare candy which appeared in his hand. He opened his eyes so big, they hurt. He ate the candy and it was awesome. He assumed then that coat was his long desired life treasure and he would take care that it would never reach the floor: “I won’t ever take it off,” he decided. So he started on his way to great and new places where he could live the life he had desired for himself. He did not want anything of his past life which was “miserable.” He then wished for everything new and stylish and everyone looked up and envy him with much glitter. But since he could not take the coat off, he could not bathe and started to stink, so people stopped getting close by. He could not even get anyone to serve him for money or whatever precious thing he could offer. He had tried wishing for people to help him or just to talk, but they never appeared, just things. He started feeling an awful itch and when he opened the coat saw that his body was covered of worms eating up his nasty flesh so he was infuriated and threw the coat. Everything disappeared, and he found himself back under the tree. Relieved he went back home and kissed his mother who stunned.

This story has many Lessons:

~No treasure “found” can be better than the life God designed for you. Learn to live it well. Ask Him to show you.

~There’s no miserable life a good friend cannot help you get through. Find one.

~Do not mistake “great findings” with Divine Will.  The Devil is a great Imitator.

~Do not envy anything that glitters. It might have worms inside.

~Relieved means going back to the routine.  With God at our side we can motivate it.

When we make the decision of listening to God we learn a lot of things that make our lives worth living. We make good friends that in time of need listen to us, and  go out of their way to help; we learn to forgive, to love God and one another, and in return He cares for us and fills us with an inexplicable peace and joy, all His promises become true on us (read Psalm 91); we grow dauntless and feel unbeatable, and He fills us with the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us if we remain faithful nourishing in His Word and talking to Him, at all moments. And that we do, not because we have to, but because we want to be closer to Him and enjoy His favor.  When we listen to Him, no one can lie to us because he will be discovered and fail. John, the apostle said it:

We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and eternal life. (I John 5.18-20)