Obey God’s message! Don’t fool
yourselves by just listening to it. If you hear
the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a
mirror and forget what they look like as soon as
they leave. But you must never
stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in
everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget. James 1:22-25
Have you ever heard of the term active listening? I remember
talking about this quite a bit in my undergrad Interpersonal Communications
course. Active listening goes beyond simply hearing what someone has to say
to being actively engaged with the speaker throughout the conversation. It’s looking at someone while they’re
speaking, making eye contact, nodding your head, giving verbal reinforcement
and encouragement. Active listening tells the speaker:
1) I am important to you
2) My feelings are valued
3) I am respected
4) I am understood
When we actively
listen to someone, our actions demonstrate that we have received the
message loud and clear. Our response to
what the speaker has said should reassure the speaker that she has been heard.
As the mother of two young boys, I truly appreciate the
concept of active listening. I’ve found that my boys can hear quite a
lot. For instance, they hear, “Go wash
your hands and come to the table for dinner.”
But their continued playing or watching television five minutes after
the fact tells me that they weren’t really listening.
Similarly, we can hear God calling us to something, but
our response to that call will prove whether or not we were actively listening.
Take this story of King Saul for example:
In 1 Samuel 15, God sends Saul off on a conquering
mission with specific instructions NOT to take any plunder from the
attack. Saul hears the Lord’s command,
but does exactly the opposite. Saul
takes the plunder from the attack in order to “make a generous sacrifice to the
Lord”, despite direct instruction that nothing should be saved. Samuel, God’s prophet, comes to Saul and asks him, “Why didn’t you listen
to the Lord?”
Saul replies, “But, I did listen.”
Samuel then points out the overwhelming evidence to the
contrary. Saul tries to justify his
actions, telling Samuel that the plunder was to be a thank offering to the
Lord. Samuel’s response:
“Tell me,” Samuel said. “Does the Lord really want sacrifices
and offerings? No! He doesn’t want your sacrifices. He wants you to obey him.”
1st Samuel 15:22
When God calls us, He wants us to be active listeners. He wants to see that He is important to us,
that He is valued and respected above all things, and—He wants to know by our
obedient response that we understand Him.
God wants active listeners. Are you
listening today?
Blessings and Peace,
Sara
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