Articles
Listen
"Oh, that my people would listen to me." – Psalm 81:13
Listen…At first glance we think of noise, sound, things we hear. Listen seems to imply something different than the word hear. Hearing comes naturally. Listening suggests focus, attention, you are tuned in.
Have you ever thought of all the sounds you hear in one day that you don't pay attention to. Birds chirping, cars running, fans blowing, chairs squeaking, bones cracking, people yawning. There's a symphony of sound around us every day, we often just don't notice.
I wonder if it's the same for some with Jesus. We read our daily Bible reading, check it off the list, and move on to other responsibilities, but do we really know what we read? Were we listening to Jesus? Listening means seeking to understand, to learn from what we have heard.
Listen closely to the Hebrew writer: "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1)
Pay attention to what you have heard from the Lord. The danger of not paying attention, of listening, is drifting. When you don't pay attention to your driving, we drift off the road. When we're not listening to the Lord through the study of His Word, we often drift. We overlook sins in our lives. We ignore signs of weakness. We miss the warnings God sends, and can find ourselves in a real mess. Listen!
This is true of all our relationships. Often when our relationships struggle is when there is one or more persons who refuses to listen. They are quick to assert their opinion, and their argument, but they've failed to understand where their friend, or their mate, is coming from. James tells us that we need to be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19). We drift in our relationships when we fail to pay attention - listen.
Think of all the ways we could apply this - are you listening in worship? Are you paying attention to the songs we sing, the words said in prayer, the preaching given? (1 Cor. 14:15) What about your family - are you listening to them? Are they struggling spiritually? Are they going through a rough time with school, or work - would you know? Listen.
What an important principle to think about. Don't just hear. Stop. Focus. Listen.
