James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it - not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it - they will be blessed in what they do.
Be still my beating heart. You mean listening and hearing are 2 different things? Oh yea! Come on you know this! How many times have you sat in a lecture and listened without really paying attention and hearing what's being said? How many times has your wife or husband talked to you about something and you were engrossed in TV or your electronic device that you really didn't hear what they were saying? How many times have you sat in church and listened to a sermon without really hearing what was being said? I know I used to be guilty of this. If something is not important to me why should I really try to hear what's being said?
I know I would listen to a message in church and think of all the people who needed to hear this and apply it to their lives. I would listen to a message that spoke such truth, yet the minute I walked out the door, it was gone. Way too many of us have fallen into the trap of "In one ear and out the other" that we think it's okay. "If it was important enough than I would remember." We make excuses and we play the blame game; "You never told me that." The sad truth is that we all have a great talent of listening, but so very often we don't hear what is being said. We're busy, we've got more important things to listen to. How sad.
We all want to be heard. We want someone to really listen and hear our hearts cry, but so often what we said, what we really were trying to say, falls on deaf ears. God gave 2 ears and only one mouth so that we would listen twice as much as we talk. Yet so many of us run our mouths without giving anyone else the chance to speak. So many of us don't want to hear what is being said because if we hear what is truly being said then that may mean we did something to hurt someone or it may mean we need to change. We don't want to hear we were wrong. We don't want to know we hurt someone. We don't want to hear the truth because the truth can be scary.
Can you imagine looking into the mirror at yourself and turning away to forget what you look like? Of course not yet, many of us look in the mirror daily and refuse to see the reality of who we are and who we have become. We refuse to hear the reality of what we need to change about ourselves,we would rather blame someone else or just refuse to listen.
Many years ago as I was reading my Bible I came across these verses of scripture and allowed it to change me. I took a good look in the mirror and allowed myself to see the reality of me. It was painful, still is at times, but in that process I got real with God. I surrendered totally to Him. Because I did that, I began to really hear what God was saying to me through messages at church, through family and friends, and through His word. Change is not easy, growth can be painful, dealing with the reality of who we are can be downright exhausting, but once we do, we grow in ways we never imagined.
Because I chose to hear God, instead of just listening, I began to change. My image in the mirror began to change. I was blessed with a peace so profound that I couldn't understand it. The thing is I didn't just hear God, I put God's word into action in my life. I let Him get really honest with me and I had to get really honest with myself. It was painful, it was sad, it was hard, but it was so worth it. I continue to look in the mirror daily at myself and I hear the truth from God. You can too.
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