“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!
Those who hear and don’t act are like those
who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.”
James 1:22-24 MSG
Are you a good listener? Or do you hear without responding?
A good listener engages with the one who is speaking. Attentive. At-the-ready. Asking clarifying questions when not comprehending. Their whole mind, attitude and body language is fixated on the one talking. THAT’s receiving what is being communicated!
Let’s suppose the one that is verbalizing is giving you important, life-saving directions. And you let it go in one ear and out the other. Wrong time to not listen with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. You could have saved a life with that information. Maybe even yours!
So, James is trying to tell you that just reading God’s Word, checking it off your to-do list…isn’t the way God intended for you to listen to His life-saving, life-giving words.
Remember, God’s Word is living and active! You need to respond to “living and active.” God expects a response. A changed life. A thought process that looks at oneself and then does something about the flaws that you see. Not that you can clean yourself up but when you see the sin so poignantly pointed out to you via the Living Word…then allow Him to scrub you clean.
That’s transformation! That’s acting on what you hear God saying to you in His Word. “Not merely deceiving yourself but doing what it says!”
That’s real listening!! Listening that requires a response. He’s waiting for your undivided attention.
