Recently I heard a man speak of a son that had turned his back on the Lord and all that his parents had taught him as he was growing up. The man’s voice broke as he explained how his son had once had a close walk with the Lord and is now very far from Him. My heart was broken for that man and I immediately lifted up a silent prayer for my sons from my heart. The sad truth is, that this scenario is more common than we might want to believe.
So what happens in the life of a Christian that would cause them to turn from all that they knew growing up? As parents we will take upon ourselves much of the blame, I mean, we raised the children for the Lord and now they aren’t interested in our God. We believe we must have done something wrong for our children to reject the Lord.
I believe that we as parents take on way too much of the blame. None of us are perfect for sure, but if we have attempted to raise our kids in a good, godly, nurturing home; when those children become adults, they are responsible for their own actions.
In my opinion, what many wayward Christians do, is to listen to the voices of those that do not have faith in Christ. They have grown up with the Word of God as the center of their home, but somewhere down the road have not given the Bible a prominent place in their adult lives. There are many different voices in the world trying to pull God’s people away from the truths of scripture.
John 10:1-5 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Jesus’ voice should be very familiar to the child of God. He knows each of His own and calls us by name. He leads us and corrects us. The voice of strangers will attempt to lead us away from the Shepherd. The voice of a stranger can eventually become familiar to us if we listen for too long. Jesus said that His sheep will flee from the voice of strangers.
There will always be those that will try to get us to compromise our stands, or get us to back away from our Biblical convictions. Don’t follow voices that are different than the Shepherd. Stay in the Word of God! Get to know The Shepherd’s voice so well that you can identify the impostors immediately!
I hope that none of us will be the subject of a brokenhearted loved one because we have turned from the Lord. When the strangers speak into our ears, we need to flee!
I could relate to this in our grandson. We are praying for him as he finds his way. He just graduated high school. I also have questions about a translation of the Bible called, the Promise. I will be in touch Patsy Simington