Voices Matter

We are not obligated to listen to every word we may hear.
We exist within a culture of noise. Amid our social media frenzy, everyone has a revelation, message, opinion, theory and point to make. Turn on the radio or television, and you can experience 100 different takes on what is happening around us, and even more hypothesis of how we should handle the coming days.
We’ve got to learn how to discern who we should listen to. Not every sentence must be recorded and not every command heeded. We can’t help hearing words simply because our ears work, but we should only listen to the timeless truth that has proven to carry the weight of eternal value.
Jesus said that if we are His sheep, we will hang onto His words. We will listen, obey, and become faithful on earth to the directions we receive from heaven. We will never understand God’s will if we neglect God’s word.
How can the Bible be a light to our path and a lamp to our feet if we can’t navigate our way through its pages?
We spend too much energy worrying about words said to us by people who have no invested interest in our wellbeing. If only we valued God’s conversations with such high esteem.
We aren’t missing out on hearing from the Lord because He isn’t participating in the process. Our souls go blank because we make the Lord compete for our attention, and we choose poorly in practicing our social skills, spiritually speaking.
The enemy is not going to clear the airwaves so we can listen to the Lord without static or interference. There is always incessant chatter trying to keep us from completely dialing into God’s authoritative presence.
There is a story about Yogi Berra, the hall of fame New York Yankees catcher, and Hank Aaron, who, at the time, was the Milwaukee Braves’ chief power hitter. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual, Yogi was continuing his ceaseless talking behind the plate, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other.
As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to get under Aaron’s skin by saying, “Henry, you’re holding the bat wrong. You’re supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark.” Aaron didn’t say anything, but when the next pitch came, he hit it 500 plus feet into the left-field bleachers.
After rounding the bases and crossing home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, “I didn’t come up here to read. I came here to hit.” Are we that focused on keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus that no amount of harassing can hold us off from being holy?
We are living in a day where many believers doubt their purpose on earth, but the last I checked, our orders have remained unchanged. We are called by God to let our light shine before others that they may see Jesus in us and want to know him as we do. This is why we can’t be looking to run and hide amid the pandemic and protests.
Hatred is running rampant, evil seems to be out of control, and the doomsday reports are stirring fear everywhere. If there was ever a time for God’s people to practice what Jesus preached, it is now. The problem is we aren’t getting our cues from Christ. We are behaving too much like the wandering mob.
God promises to give us clear direction every day of our lives if we trust in Him with all of our heart and lean not to our understanding. Will we go beyond just hearing His coaching to listening and obeying His voice?
Sitting and taking notes during a sermon is not like making the message come alive practically every day. Meetings are fine, only if they produce action. Information without transformation results in God somehow missing the program.
Debra Fine wrote about 8-year-old Nick, who told his dad about his day.
“Dad, I had a great day at school. We had art class today, and I painted a cool picture of the mountains. We played soccer during gym, and I scored a goal, and guess what? They served pizza for lunch.”
Looking at his father, whose nose was in the newspaper, Nick said, “Dad, you’re not listening.”
His father replied, “Yes I am, Son. You painted a picture of the mountains, scored a goal in soccer, and had pizza for lunch.” Nick was unappeased.
“No, Dad, that’s not it. You’re not listening to me with your eyes.”
The eyes have it, and if they aren’t fixed on the Jesus that it claims to worship, maybe we aren’t seeing everything as it is. Remember to follow the power, and if you aren’t playing “Follow the Leader” with Jesus, you need to change direction immediately. Expect distractions, but stay committed to what our Shepherd has promised His sheep.
I close with the lesson of the postage stamp.
Writing letters may indeed be a lost art, but the point is that they have one attribute that all Christians should emulate: They stick to one thing until they get to where they are delivered. God delivers us this day from evil and temptation until we finally arrive at heaven.
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.