Do you have friends in your neighborhood you like to play with? My four-year-old son, Tom, has two little friends who he plays with often.
Every morning at about 10:30, Micah comes over and rings the doorbell. “Can Tom come out to play?” When I say “yes,” Tom always smiles, stops what he’s been doing inside, and goes outside to play with his friend. Sometimes they ride their bikes, and sometimes they just run around the yard. They play together happily almost every day.
But I have noticed something—Tom copies everything his friend Micah does! If Micah hops around, Tom hops along behind him. If Micah screams, Tom screams. If Micah picks a flower, Tom picks a flower. When they ride their bikes, Tom rides right behind Micah, turning where he turns and stopping where he stops.
Sometimes Tom gets into trouble when he copies his friend. They are not to pick flowers, and they are not to scream at the top of their lungs. And sometimes Tom listens to his friend rather than obeying me!
And sometimes we do the very same thing. Rather than obey what the Lord Jesus tells us about accepting Him as our Saviour, we follow our friends instead. We want to be like them and have their approval.
When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He went everywhere doing good and teaching the people. He told them many wonderful things. The people listened to Him eagerly, but the religious leaders were jealous because the people paid so much attention to the Lord Jesus. They warned the people not to say (or confess) that Jesus was the Christ, or they would be in trouble. And yet John 12:42 and 43 tells us that many of the chief rulers did believe on Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him. They were afraid they would be thrown out of the synagogue for saying that Jesus was the Christ. Those chief rulers loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Isn’t this terribly sad? Those chief rulers knew that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah that Israel had been waiting for, but they went along with their friends rather than confess that He was the Christ. And we are being just like those chief rulers when we go along with our friends. We need to accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and then confess to others that He is our Saviour. Romans 10:9 says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Tom’s other little friend is a three-year-old neighbor named Nicolas. He likes Tom and loves to come over and play with his toys. Nicolas is not at home during the day, so we don’t see him till about 4:00 in the afternoon.
Nicolas has a different problem than Tom has. Whenever I see him doing something that is wrong, all I have to say is “Nicolas!” Rather than listen to me, Nicolas takes off running!
The Lord Jesus said many times in the New Testament, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” We need to be willing to listen. It is important to listen to God’s Word because this wonderful book is where we learn all about God and His heart of love towards us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
Nicolas is starting to get to know me, so sometimes now if I say, “I want to talk to you; come here, Nicolas,” he’ll come and listen. He doesn’t have to be afraid of me because I want to be kind to him. And you don’t have to be afraid to come to the Lord Jesus. He loves you! “Hereby perceive [understand] we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us.” 1 John 3:16.
ML-10/17/1993