CREDIT: DALL-E3 AI
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hearing and listening, these are two very different things. Hearing is passive. It happens automatically. Realize it or not, you hear all kinds of things – cars passing by, a building’s beams creaking, others’ voice. But most of these sounds are tuned out. Listening involves hearing, but it’s active. When you listen, you pay attention and try to understand the sound to learn. Both start with the ear, but listening goes much further … into the mind and even the soul as the sounds heard change you.
God’s word is spoken all the time. The question is, do you listen to it … or just hear it? God desires for us to listen to Him, “See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven.” (Hebrews 12:25) God speaks to His people – in the old days through the voices of His prophets, apostles, and Son Jesus as they walked the earth. Today He speaks to us through His word and His church. Yet too often, while we might hear it, we don’t listen to it. We’re a little like the people who told Jesus, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” (Luke 13:26) The problem is, they thought it was good enough to simply be in Jesus’ presence. They heard Him teaching, but they didn’t listen. And because they didn’t listen, nothing changed. Their hearts remained hardened. Their words and actions remained selfish. Their faith remained dead. And, as Jesus warns, they wouldn’t be able to enter the kingdom of heaven through the narrow door.
But God desires for us to listen to Him so we can enter His kingdom through the narrow door. So let us actively listen to God and respond, “striving for peace with everyone, and for holiness” that we may “obtain His grace” and see the Lord face to face. (Hebrews 12:14-15)
In His Grace,
Pastor Jim