Listen Carefully

Chuckle: Little Amy confided to her uncle, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry the boy next door." "Why is that?" "'Cause I'm not allowed to cross the street."

Good Quote: “Half an hour's listening is essential except when you are very busy. Then a full hour is needed." --St Frances de Sales

LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY

"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it" (Hebrews 2:1 NLT).

I remember a game we played in my youth group when I was a teenager. It went like this: A person at the beginning of a long line of players would whisper something into the ear of the next person. That person then whispered what he had heard to the next person, and so it went to the end of the line. Then the last person would voice what he had heard and it was compared to what the first person had actually said. It was amazing, and sometimes hilarious, how distorted the original words could become. The distortion occurred from misunderstanding, embellishment, or just a failure to listen carefully.

Listen to what God said to his people through Moses. Moses called all the people of Israel together and said, "Listen carefully to all the laws and regulations I am giving you today. Learn them and be sure to obey them!" (Deuteronomy 5:1 NLT). In both our passages, a major emphasis is given to listening carefully to God, learning from God's words, and obeying what we have heard and learned. How carefully have you tuned your spiritual ears to listening to what God is saying to you? How committed are you to following God's directions so they do not become distorted, diluted, or irrelevant in your life because of the world's distractions?

James reminds us that listening carefully to the Word is the first step in becoming what God wants us to be. "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22 NIV). We are to pay close attention and listen in a way that produces clear understanding with the intent to live out the instructions we have heard. Paying close attention involves the focusing our minds, bodies, and senses. This will help insure that God's Word does not become distorted or forgotten in our daily lives. The ability to Listen carefully to God and other people is a wonderful trait.

"His thoughts were slow,

His words were few and never formed to glisten.

But he was a joy to all his friends,

You should have heard him listen!'

Love, Jerry & Dotse