John 7:1-13 - We dance to a heavenly tune the world does not hear

In life, there are two paths to choose: the way of the world or the way of God. Each has its own path; you cannot follow both. You must choose the path you will follow. To follow the world is to turn away from God and his commands. It is said that if you follows the world, you will hate the things of God. You will only value what the world values, and you will despise the teachings of the Lord. To choose the world is the way of worldly wealth and greed; to choose God is to value a relationship with him more than any worldly comfort. We only will seek to further his glory to the nations of the world. We will not be interested in the glory of men and their achievements. We will live our lives by seeking God’s will for us, and doing everything he tells us to do. We will seek his way and timing for all we do. As Jesus said, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil” (John 7:6). Men of the world can live as they please, and go where ever they choose. Men of God must follow the teachings of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Friendship with the world and its ways will only lead to separation from God our Father. We are to have a value system that comes from God, and not one that is formulated by men of the world. The people of God have only one pressing desire, and that is to serve God with all their hearts, minds and souls. And, we are to love people, and do them no harm. However, people will not necessarily treat us with kindness and goodwill, for they do not like us telling them that what they are going is evil and wrong. It moves them to hate us, when we talk about what God considers wrong. We allow the Bible to be our guide to what is right and what is wrong. We are guided by obedience to God’s commands as revealed in the Scriptures. This sets us apart from the world. We think about things differently from those that do not follow God’s way. However, like Jesus we only do the will of the Father regardless of the cost to us; even to the cost of our lives.
As the children of God, we listen to the voice of our heavenly Father. He alone is our source of what is right, and obey only his commands. We are like sheep that follows only the good shepherd, and trust only him. As Jesus said, “The sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:4-5). We recognize the voice of God, and to this voice we respond. The ways of the world are strange to us, for we hold to a different value system. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3). Jesus leads us according to what God the Father has told him. He knows each of us by name. He knows who we are, and he leads us in the way of safety and deliverance. His love for us motivates him to protect us. God holds us safely in his loving arms, and he does not let evil destroy us. He is our refuge and our sheltering place. He leads us on the road to eternal life. He prepares for us a life of abundance and untold blessings. God has given us eternal life in Jesus Christ, and we will reside in his loving presence for eternity.