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1A farmer once told me: “Pigs are stubborn animals to lead. You want them to go left, they’ll always go right.”

But I saw this same farmer lead a herd of pigs from their field with total ease. They were eager to follow him! And then I realised he was taking them to the slaughter house.

“How did you get the pigs to follow you?” I asked.

The farmer laughed and said, “Maybe you didn’t see the bag of beans under my arm! I’ve been dropping these beans along the road for the pigs. They love them! As long as I’m dropping these beans, the pigs will follow me anywhere—even the slaughterhouse.”

The Bible tells us that Satan, the devil, leads each one of us on like this. The devil knows how to make us do stupid or selfish things. He knows the ‘beans’ we want to get our hands on: money, sex, drugs, power . . . and he promises them in many ways. We give in to the same ‘turn-ons’ again and again. Maybe we even feel like we can’t do anything about it.

And at the end of the road, the devil is taking us to God’s judgement and then hell. We’re lead like pigs to the slaughter. The more we’re led by the devil and our own desires, the further from God we will find ourselves:

“If you keep on sinning, it shows that you belong to Satan, who since he first began to sin has kept steadily at it. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the devil.” —1 John 3:8

Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to rescue us from this way of life. He came to change us because He knows we can’t change ourselves.

“God has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who bought our freedom with his blood and forgave us all our sins.” —Colossians 1:13-14

Jesus paid our entry fee into heaven with his own blood. This means he died and faced God’s judgement for us, so now we can belong to him rather than Satan. Jesus himself describes this change as being “born again” (John 3:3). That’s how ‘brand new’ Jesus makes us.

Whereas the devil leads us to make bad, selfish choices, Jesus helps us live with love, peace and forgiveness. Jesus gives us the change we’re looking for! When we trust him, we’re changed from being ‘slaughterhouse pigs’ to God’s own children.

“No one who has become part of God’s family makes a practice of sinning, for Christ, God’s Son, holds him securely, and the devil cannot get his hands on him.” —1 John 5:18

Once we belong to Jesus, we have a new path to walk. God promises to be with us every step of the way, helping us to leave our selfish and painful choices behind. It may take time, but he promises to make us more like Jesus every day!

— Mark, an Our Daily Bread reader

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