Listening To God's Calling

 Do you have ears? That’s silly, I know. Everyone has two – except, one of my stuffed animals has three. I’ll explain at the end. For now, we look at another of Jesus’ sayings.

“He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus said this after His parables. His disciples didn’t always understand them, so they asked Him. That’s normal. We have to ask questions if we don’t understand things, in fact. It helps us learn to think. It also helps us see if something is BiBlical; we can compare what they say to Scripture. 

The fact His disciples asked questions shows they wanted to understand. They wanted to follow Jesus. He has the words of eternal life.(John 6:68) This ties in with following Jesus like the example of those people walking together. What kind of ears do you have?

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. His sheep hear His voice. Now, sheep are dumb animals at times, like wandering off and falling into ravines. So, just because His sheep hear His voice doesn’t mean they listen. But, even if a sheep decides to wander off, that shepherd will always pick them up and take them back to the fold. In the same way, Jesus will always lovingly take us back when we wander from Him. But, how week do you follow Him now? We should always consider how well we are willing to listen to Jesus.

The right type of ears are quick to agree with God. It can be about what He wants us to do. Or, about something we should stop doing. When we get back, Sal would like to go back to doing the Brokenness for Sin slides sometimes, so we know what to avoid. This is just like that friend who lovingly says if we’re messing up. I remember when I was 8 one of my friends and I were creating some kind of adventure with our action figures and I kept insisting I did not want any animals to die because I loved them so much. He said, “Come on, Doug, dogs die, you just have to accept that!” And, he was right, I was being very silly then in how I wanted to imagine things with no casualties, not even dogs. But, we often need to take a stand for much more important things than what we imagine happening when we play.

Jesus knows the consequences of everything. Some people decide not to listen to Him after a while. The Holy Spirit’s voice gets weaker and weaker the more a person chooses not to listen to God. That’s why it’s so important, if you can’t make it to church yet, to listen on the radio or online to one like Canton Baptist Temple. You can listen anytime at cantonbaptist.org. If you did you’d know some of this, in fact. 😊 God knew I could use some of what was said in with this theme of Jesus as our friend. He led me to, and I heard His voice.

Some, of course, don’t hear His voice because they’re not His sheep. You can still be His child and not go. But, worshipping as a family or some other group – even if online, by radio, etc. – is an important habit since it lets you keep hearing Jesus’ voice more clearly.

Think of it this way. When you actively listen to God’s word, read your Bible, pray, etc., you’re taking time to hear God’s voice, just like spending time with any friend. It’s practice for the rest of the week, just like beign with any good friend encourages you. If your parents didn’t drive for a while, they might recall most but forget some parts. If they didn’t for years, they may forget how entirely. So, keep being interested in spiritual things. Make the effort to listen online at least. I hope this was helpful, but it didn’t have near the meat of the sermon I heard and which you can on that site. Though I’m sure no preacher talks of a 3-eared dog.

Oh, about that. This one dog had black plastic ears that weren’t put on right and fell off easily. (It was also a pattern like a checkerboard tablecloth – either someone made it that bright knowing I couldn’t see well or things were just wild colors in the ‘70s.) My mom said she’d sew felt ears on and asked what color I wanted. She said she had green, white, and red. I wanted one of each. So this dog has one green and one red floppy ear, and a white floppy one in back.

Jesus is your friend. Keep in contact – He will guide you through all this.