THE FATHER STAYS, EVEN WHEN I STUBBORNLY IGNORE HIM
“Jesus said:
‘My sheep hear my voice. . . .
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.’” Jn 10:27-30
This very short Gospel passage reveals the most important thing a person has to discover, sooner rather than later, during our relatively short lives: “that you and I have been related to God, our Father, long before we came to relate to any thing or any one else.”1
And no one who refuses to believe in or trust Jesus, can take himself out of Jesus’ hand, into which the Father “has given us.”
It is God who has made us “who we are and who we can be by his own eternal purpose, which cannot be altered by any force or circumstance in this world. We may refuse this calling or remain stubbornly unaware of it; but God continues to call us and to offer us what we need to fulfill these callings. And the degree to which those callings are answered or refused has consequences for eternity”2 – consequences for us and for others – for now and for eternity.
So, no one, not even ourselves, can take us (or another) out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:29)
REFLECT
When was the last time God, the Father, thought about you?
When was the last time you thought about God, the Father?
When was the last time God, the Father, thought about each of the people you are going to be near today? When was the last time you tried to see them as God, the Father, sees them? What do you think the Father’s “eternal purpose” is for them? Might your purpose include helping their “ eternal purpose” come to fruition? Might their “eternal purpose” include helping you?
Be still and listen. Listen for the voice of God, the Father, calling you by your name.
Sister Loretta
- Being Disciples: Essentials of the Christian Life by Rowan Williams , 2016.
- Ibid.