Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Idol of Control | The Gospels | John 10:22–40

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

Why do we crave control? What happens when our need for certainty becomes an idol? And how do Jesus's promises free us from carrying burdens we were never meant to bear? In today's episode, Tanya explores John 10:22–40 and reminds us that our security isn't found in controlling the future, but in our Good Shepherd himself. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: John 10:22–40

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Many of us struggle with not knowing the future. We crave the comfort that comes from well-laid plans and routine, and we exert control over our time and our people wherever we can. We predict and plan for best and worst-case scenarios and live out our imaginations, what could happen, or what we think will happen before it even comes to fruition.

the desire to look ahead is natural. In fact, Paul prays that God will open the eyes and minds of his readers to what God has in store for them. In Ephesians 118, Paul says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. This enlightenment isn't based on what we can control, but on what we gain when we lose control.

Because our hope rests on the work of Jesus, our future is secure and unchanging. It's a future assurance. we receive simply by belonging to him. In other words, Paul is praying that we will live out our future assurance now. That means not doing certain things now, not pre-living circumstances in dread,

not manipulating people to control their actions, not praising your kids for being people-pleasers. These are ways of exerting control over the future that set us up for disappointment and heartbreak. The situation you dread will not get any easier if you play it out in your mind. You will only make it more dreadful by dwelling on the bad parts of it.

The people you manipulate will not feel close and connected to you. The kids who want to please you will grow bitter towards your self-righteousness when they realize you can't even live up to your own standards. Many of us can recognize the idol of control shaping our behavior, our thoughts and interactions.

When we're driven by this need to manage our future outcomes, it affects what we plan, what we say, how we behave, and how we relate to other. We may micromanaged situations to avoid uncertainty or grip tightly to people for fear of things falling apart. We may avoid action altogether because we can't guarantee the result. This pursuit can be paralyzing.

It causes us to second guess ourselves and slowly lose sight of who we are. We risk abandoning our God-given gifts and our image in the process of trying to hold everything together on our own. If any of this resonates with you, I believe you'll appreciate the word, of Jesus, our good shepherd in John chapter 10 versus 25 to 30. This passage follows two important I am statements. Jesus uses the word picture of a gatekeeper who opens the pen for the sheep who know his voice in John 10.7. Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before him and anyone who comes after are thieves and robbers, but he has come so that we may have life and have it in abundance. Jesus also says, I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand will not lay down his life, but the shepherd will. The shepherd knows his sheep, and his sheep know him, and he lays down his life for them. Now, when the Pharisees heard these parables, they were confused, and they accused Jesus of being possessed by a demon. It was easier to blame Jesus for their doubt than it was to wrestle with it. So Jesus answered, You don't believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who was given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. What if we wrestled with those words instead of letting doubt lead us into anxiety about the future? What if we held fast to these promises as our sense of security instead of living in doubt? Let's examine the

promises that Jesus made about his sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice. Did you know conviction can be a good thing? If you feel convicted, it means that at some level, you're aware the Holy Spirit is telling you something that interferes with your own will. Instead of being completely won over by your own voice, you're still sensitive in that area to the voice of your good shepherd. So what should you do when you're convicted? Take notice and ask God to help you respond and a way that's consistent with his word, even if it's not consistent with what you want to do. Jesus promises about being with you in the present and guarding your future mean you can do things that are uncomfortable right now. The disappointment you feel about not having your way

will pale in comparison to the anxiety that you attract when you do have your way and make yourself your guarantor of your own future. What about the next promise? Jesus says, I know them and they follow me. My name is pronounced Tanya, but most people call me Tanya. When someone does call me Tanya, it makes me feel like they know me. I'm not a pronunciation to them. I'm a name. They don't have to think about. It's me.

Did you know that following Jesus is a command he asks us to keep because he knows us? It's not arbitrary. It's built on a foundation of being known. He knows us and therefore we follow him. Not we follow him and then he knows us. I think that's the part we get confused about. We think that if we follow him and please God, he will know us and take care of our future. That puts all the pressure on us.

But the pressure was never meant to be on us. It was on Jesus. Because Jesus knows us, we should follow him, period. The next words, he says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish. The U.S. is turning 250 years old next week. It's hard to believe it's only been 250 years since this place with all of its cold. cultural icons came into being. But when you look at your life in the bigger picture, you're just a blip of history. Most of our lives are spent managing and thinking about things that will be

off our radar in a few weeks' time. This is what Jesus knows about us when he calls us to live in light of eternal life. Knowing we will not perish gives a winsome quality to temporal things and an urgency to grow in holiness. I think we spend most of our time having those things backward, holding tightly to temporal things and being lazy about our holiness. But Jesus says, no one will snatch them out of my hand. Until I grasped this promise, I spent a lot of time living with guilt. I thought sin was a sign that I wasn't part of God's kingdom. Guess what? Sin is a sure sign that you're human. It's the one thing we can all build unity around. We all have it. We all share a sin problem. Recognizing sin,

a sin is actually a good sign. It's an invitation to repentance. And sin and repentance, if you've read the Psalms lately, are part of this life as we wait for God to do his work in us. When you believe your good shepherd will keep you and keep his promises to you, you won't be crushed by your mistakes. You also won't be lazy about your sin. You'll experience both the disappointment of self and the comfort of Jesus that leads you deeper into his steady arms. So let's compare. God's promises are an anchor. They let us face the unknown without needing to control it. They free us to be honest, present, and open.

They lift the burden from us to secure outcomes we were never meant to guarantee. They free us to walk in step with Christ one day at a time. On the other hand, anxiety about the future can distort us. It can make us restless, withdrawn, or suspicious of others' motives. It can drive us to rehearse worst-case scenarios instead of resting in what is our known in Jesus, it can pull us away from who we are and who we're meant to become. But we are not without hope. One of the most beautiful ways to reflect Christ is to need him and depend on him, to trust him. When we're filled by our relationship with God, we no longer

depend on certainty for our sense of security. When we let scripture root us in Jesus' promises, we are ready to receive the future. One day, we will stand confidently before God. Secure. in him just as his son is secure in him. God said of Jesus, this is my son, with whom I am well pleased. And when we stand before God, he sees Jesus over us. That's the security we hold on to now, not because we've planned well enough, but because of who Christ is. How might that truth change your life? Maybe it won't shift everything overnight, but we can begin by becoming aware of the places where the need for control has shaped us. We can ask God to reveal where it has consumed our thoughts, our words, and our decisions. We can take small, faithful steps to turn from that idol and

turn toward Jesus with our confidence, our freedom, and our future. God's promises aren't based on our ability to plan for every outcome. They are rooted in Christ's finished work. May the truth free us moment by moment from the idol of control and lead us deeper into the freedom of being fully known and fully held by the one who made us.