The Real Thing

The story is told of bank tellers who were trained to detect counterfeit $50 notes. Trainers put the tellers in a room and explained to them all the details of the genuine currency. The tellers learnt about the almost indistinguishable patterns of the real notes. The tellers got familiar with the feel and texture, running their fingers over them countless times.
Then came the test. The tellers were put in front of a conveyor belt with countless genuine notes. Occasionally a supervisor would insert a counterfeit note onto the belt. The tellers would immediately look at it, pull it off, and say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with this one, but there’s something not right about it.” Invariably they were right.
How did they recognise the counterfeit so quickly? Because they were familiar with the real thing.
Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me”…. “they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice” (from John 10).
To be followers of Christ today means we have to get familiar with his voice, with his way of thinking, with the kinds of things he will say to us and ask us to do. The more familiar we are with his voice, the more readily we will discern the voice of the stranger, the one who would lead us along other paths, the thief who comes to kill, steal and destroy (Jn 10:10)..
That’s why we read the Bible. We do it in order to know his voice, to get familiar with Him and His ways, so that we may walk in those ways rather than in other ways. By this means we actually gain wisdom. Knowledge is plentiful in our world but wisdom is in short supply. Wisdom is to apply knowledge rightly, in accordance with the ways of the Lord.
This is why at St Luke’s we encourage one another to be undertaking spiritual practices that help us follow the voice of the Lord. Our Bible reading plan is a tool for that. In our small groups we encourage one another and explore the Bible together so we may discern the ways of the Lord. Even in casual conversation we look to point each other towards His ways.
Knowing the real from the counterfeit is not easy. Things can look harmless enough but do great damage. Wrong choices can lead to all sorts of painful consequences. The more wisdom we gain the better we will be. Paul says “everything written in the past was written to teach us” (Romans 15:4). The Scriptures help us to know the real thing, to discern God’s voice from other voices, wisdom from folly. Without the Bible we are easy meat. Let’s digest into our system the mind of God.