Meandering Monday - How’s Your Listening? - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Meandering Monday, where we take a trip back to an earlier post and enjoy it again.

Now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. Hebrews 1:2 NLT

As a teacher, I’m especially familiar with the difference between hearing and listening.

I don’t teach any deaf students, so, technically, all my students always hear what I say. But on test days or instances when we are orally practicing what they’ve heard, I readily realize not all of them have listened. Or when I give instructions and a student immediately asks me a question I just answered, I know hearing took place but not listening.

With my ears, I receive sounds, but to listen I must engage my attention and mind. Listening requires focusing on what I’ve heard and then processing it, so it stays with me and is ushered into my long-term memory.

Hearing and listening don’t always take place at the same time. The entire Old Testament record is the story of God speaking to people who often didn’t listen. From the first couple to those living when Jesus arrived, disobedience revealed itself as a universal thread. God spoke through visions, dreams, prophets, and natural phenomena. While those who witnessed these feats and heard these messages appeared to listen, many didn’t hear. Had they, their actions would have differed.

God also spoke his love through sacrifices. Rather than requiring a person’s life because of their sins, he allowed them to bring a substitute. Animal sacrifices, however, were only temporary and symbolic. Since they weren’t perfect, sin was only momentarily covered.

But when God spoke through his Son, he completed the required sacrifice. No more killings. Just listening to and accepting the one who has been offered on our behalf.

When we truly listen to God’s message of love, actions will follow. Not only will we accept but we will also prove we’ve listened through our lifestyles. We will love God with our entire beings, love others as we do ourselves, and adopt attitudes that honor our Savior.

Are you listening to what God is saying to you?

Prayer: Omnipotent God, enable us not only to hear but also to listen to You when You speak. 

Tweetable: How are your listening skills? 

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