How’s Your Hearing?

-
This is me with my sweet cousin Jill, who is hearing
impaired. At the same time, she knows how to listen to 
Jesus! Love you, Jill. 



Scripture:


Luke 8:4   When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”


Observation:


Jesus often spoke in parables, but these stories also left some confused. This parable of the sower is really about the ability to listen. The sowing of the seeds will have positive results if the people truly listen. The emphasis is not on the sower, but on the soil. Jesus emphasizes that those who have ears, are supposed to listen! This is not about having ears — but about the quality of your hearing. This is a call for a response. You are not just supposed to listen, but you are to really hear what is being said, and this is to result in action. 


Application:


Yesterday, my husband was talking to me when I received a text message. That text message drew my attention away from what my husband was saying. He asked me whether I had heard what he had said. In a way, yes, I had heard that he was speaking. Could I repeat what he had said? Sadly, no. I wasn’t listening, because I was distracted. 


Jesus was asking those who were present about the quality of their listening skills. Many of us will have gone to church yesterday and I’m sure that the pastor preached a good sermon. Could we share with anyone what it was that we heard yesterday? Were we really listening?


When I sit down with the Word in the morning, I have to pray and ask the Lord to help me to listen, and to learn something new this day. If I don’t — I can easily become distracted, and never really hear anything. There are times when I’ve read an entire chapter and then realized that I have no idea what I just read. Learning to become a real listener takes effort and intentionality. It means I have to turn off the distractions, or have a note pad handy to write things down that I can return to later. Only then can I really listen to what God wants to say to me. 


Just like this parable, Jesus has things to say to us and to teach us. We don’t need excellent physical hearing to listen to God’s voice, but we do need to rid ourselves of distractions. The parable of the sower is really the parable of the soil — and that is a question about hearing. Let’s slow down and really listen to what God is saying to us today. 


Prayer:


Lord, I want to hear from you. Help me to tune into what you want to say to me today, and every day. May the distractions be placed into the background so that I will focus on you. Amen. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

On Grief and A Flute Player

-
Scripture: Matt. 9:23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, Matt. 9:24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Matt. 9:25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. Matt. 9:26 And the report of this spread throughout that district. Observation: This is a simple story which we have heard or read numerous times. Jesus heals the little girl and the people rejoice. But at the moment in which he arrives at the home he encounters the professional mourners. These are the flute players, the ones who have come to make a great noise about the child’s death. It is the flute player that testifies to the fact that she is truly dead. Also, flutes were generally employed when it came to the death of a child. The whole community would therefore understand that it is a child who has died in this home. The flute player is doing the job they have
Read more