Open My Ears, Lord

As a parent, I know sometimes my children "hear" me, but they don't actually listen to what I'm saying.  My husband and I used to tease each of them when they were little, that we were going to get them an appointment with their doctor to get their hearing checked.  They would just laugh and admit they really weren't listening to us like they should.  No doctor's appointment was needed.


We can hear all kinds of things around us - both good and bad, but we must choose to listen to what is good and needful and choose not listen to what is not good. We also must be willing to hear the truth....to open our ears to the message about Jesus.  


The Bible talks a lot about ears and hearing.  Hearing is one of the first ways we will know about God and about Jesus.  We may hear it from others or maybe we read about it in the Bible ourselves.  But, when we hear....what do we hear?  What do we want to hear?  Do we want to hear the truth?  Do we want to hear only about what makes us feel good? Do we believe everything we hear?


In 2nd Timothy, Paul gave Timothy this charge about preaching the truth.  He told Timothy that there would come a day that people would not want to hear sound doctrine, but would want to hear what they wanted to hear.  They would turn from truth to myths.

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." 

2 Timothy 4:2-5

To believe the Bible, believe in God, and believe that Jesus really is the Son of God and that he came to bring salvation to all, we must first hear that word.  We must hear it from those who proclaim that message and learn about it from His Word.  That good news is spread all over the world for everyone to hear....if we'll all just open our ears.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Romans 10:14-15

Hearing the truth is essential to becoming a faithful Christian.  In fact, faith comes from hearing that message...and the only true message comes straight from the Word of God.  Anything else we hear or read, we should check it out in the Bible to make sure what we're hearing is truth.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 

Romans 10:17

Maybe we should all pray this prayer:

Open our ears, Lord.  Help us to not just hear, but to also listen. Let us hear Your message and the good news of Jesus always.  Help us to always listen to Your Word and obey your commands.  Help us to open our ears to truth and to stay away from anything untrue.

In Jesus' name,

Amen

Oh, Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear!

Aren't you amazed at what we tolerate sometimes when it comes to what we hear? When you think about the shows we watch on tv or in movies, we sometimes tolerate a lot when it comes to our ears. But, we also hear gossip and complaining and grumbling. We hear filty jokes and cuss words.

In Ephesians 5:4, God makes it very clear how He feels about us listening to these kinds of things: Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

It becomes very clear what we need to listen to and what we don't need to listen to. Sometimes we are guilty of listening to things we shouldn't. I remember teaching a class one time and talking about this subject and an older lady said, “Well that's all that's on. What else is there to watch?” Well, who says we have to watch anything? We do have a choice about whether to watch something or not. Off is a choice, isn't it?

Have you ever thought that maybe the reason there are so many bad tv shows and movies with bad content in them is because Christians go watch them? If all Christians would say no, Hollywood would listen, don't you think? Of course, there would still be many who went to see things like this, but the Christian population is still a big population in America.

What about music? Do you ever get in the car and listen to a song and then realize the words are not good? I've done that about songs from when I was younger. I can't believe some of the songs I listened to, but just never paid attention to them before. Sometimes I don't realize it until I've been singing along with it for a little bit! As my children have gotten older, I really pay attention to the words of the music more and more and think about the message the song is sending.

Last summer I took my daughter to a doctor's appointment and a horrible song/music video came on. For you parents of teens, you can probably guess what song that was because later someone told me it caused kind of a stir. I had never heard of the song and my daughter hadn't either, but I did ask (nicely) if the receptionist could change the channel. She told me to change it, which I quickly did.

There is a message music is trying to send to our children. Songwriters and performers know this - that's their job. We need to make sure the message conveys good and wholesome images for our minds and it's something we need to listen to.

Yes, we need to be careful about what we listen to with our ears.
Before the face of God (Remember, "Coram Deo") we listen to songs or hear the content on movies and television.

Oh, be careful little ears what you hear.