Recently I've been immersed in a Bible study called Breaking Free by Beth Moore . In her book she presents the idea that God's children can be oppressed and become reliant on oppression. She writes, "We were created to attach and depend so that we would migrate toward God and find safety. To entice us, Satan offers us alternate attachments masquerading as fulfillments to our inner needs." She goes on to write, "let me alert you to a toxic emotional cocktail: a relationship made up of someone who has an unhealthy need to be taken care of and someone who has an unhealthy need to care-take." In John 10:2-3 Jesus said, "The man who enters by the gate is the Shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." The lesson God has been impressing upon me over and over again is that I must listen only for the shepherd's voice and that my attachment to Christ must surpass all other relationships. Sounds easy enough, but if I asked you to whom do you give preference to you as you walk through your day or to whom or what do you run to when your heart is breaking, would your answer be Jesus or another?
