Listening


The noise was deafening! In response to its ad for a radio operator, many applicants crowded the small office of a shipping company. While waiting for their turn, they chatted so excitedly. Their combined voices were so loud that they had to speak louder to hear each other. They could hardly hear the loud speaker of the paging system in the office.

One applicant came in and sat quietly in a corner. Suddenly, he stood up and entered a door with a “No Entry” sign. After a few minutes, he came out smiling. He got the job. The others protested. “What happened? How come you got hired that easily?” He answered, “All of us are qualified for the job. Again and again, the loud speaker played a Morse code signal. The message goes like this: ‘We are looking for somebody who would always be alert. If you hear this, come to the office with the ‘No Entry’ sign ASAP.’ You were not listening at all.” [1]

Nowadays, we hear a lot of “voices” demanding for our ears. We live in a distracted, multi-tasking world. We have more than a hundred cable channels vying for our attention. There are times we can’t drive even for a short distance without turning on the radio. Now, with Facebook, Twitter and all those social networking sites over the Internet, our attention span became shorter than ever. According to Ted Selker, “an expert in the online equivalent of body language” from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “If we spend our time flitting from one thing to another on the web, we can get into a habit of not concentrating… So instead of focusing on one thing and getting the most out of it, I find myself getting bored quickly because I know there are so many more things out there to go to.” [2]

That’s why we also tend to miss out on God’s “still, small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12, NKJV) We read our Bible. We go to church. We read books. We subscribe to sermon podcasts… and still we couldn’t hear His whisper. Are we really listening at all?

James 1:21-22 explains why we have such short attention span as far as God’s Word is concerned. “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness…” (ESV) Is there a sin that blocks our spiritual ears? (By the way, the Greek for “filthiness” means “earwax.”) “…and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Is pride keeping us from receiving His commands and corrections? “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Do we really listen with the intent to obey?

Brethren, let us pray, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

Popular posts from this blog

“Ubus-ubos Biyaya, Bukas Nakatunganga”

Image
That’s what my mother always told us when we were still kids. (Translation: “You spend everything today, you will have nothing tomorrow.” ) Image source: So, What's New ? Dionie did just that. Last April 2008, he won PHP14,125,032 in the Lotto 6/42 draw. Excitedly, he “lived the life of a millionaire, something he had been longing to experience. He lived in a P4-million house in a posh subdivision, drove around in a sports utility vehicle [which he bought the very same day he claimed his prize] , and gave goodwill money, ranging P1,000 to P 850,000, to relatives and friends. He also gambled daily, womanized, and went on regular drinking sprees.” (Source: Manila Bulletin ) He estimated that he squandered a minimum of P100,000 almost every day. He also lent money even to people he did not really know. “I just gave them and told them not to pay me back.” (Ibid) His bank had to issue him a special card so he can withdraw huge amounts of money quickly from the automated teller m
Read more

God Knows Judas Not Pay

In the National Geographic Magazine (May 2006 issue), in its cover story, The Judas Gospel , Professor Eliane Pagels of Princeton University claimed that the so-called gospel of Judas “ changes the history of early Christianity. ” Even UP Professor Randy David took notice of the Judas Gospel: “Strictly from a sociological standpoint, I think the discovery of the Gospel of Judas makes Christianity a far more interesting religion than what centuries of metaphysical theology has made of it.” (A Gospel for the Postmodern, Phil. Daily Inquirer, April 16, 2006) That’s why I spoke in our Young Pro Fellowship a few days ago on God Knows Judas Not Pay (A Biblical Response on the Judas Gospel). I believe opportunities like this hype on the Judas Gospel or the Da Vinci Code opens a door for us to share the true Gospel. For those who did not attend last Thursday, let me share briefly why we reject the Judas gospel. I came up with the acronym J-U-D-A-S. J udas was portrayed as a traitor in the Bibl
Read more

“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

Image
Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all lived happily in harmony resonated with the
Read more