DAY 286- If You Love Me Listen To Me

Luke 8:5-8, 18 (NIV) ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”  ¹⁸ Therefore consider carefully how you listen.

Romans 10:14-17 (NIV)  ¹⁴ 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? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” ¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Relationships require listening, and faith in Christ and relationship with Him come as we listen. Paul says faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Over and over again the Scriptures emphasize the importance of listening to God.

If listening is the way relationships begin and grow, it is also true that we resist listening. So Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. Some do not hear because their hearts have been hardened. They have heard too many false advertisements; they have been jilted by too many fickle lovers. Some do not hear because their hearts are shallow. They want quick results to their hearing and when it does not come they shut down their listening. And some do not hear because their hearts are too cluttered by noise and the busy-ness of the world.

The good news of the parable is that the Sower continues to sow. The persistence of our resistance is met by the persistence of God’s continuous speaking. Hearing comes as a gift and it can come at any time, but Jesus says that we are most likely to hear when we persist in our effort to hear, even if our effort seems to bear no results. This persistence in hearing is called meditation. We do not have to be spiritual giants to meditate. We do not have to learn an advance skill to listen, to be quiet, to allow a little stillness into our soul.

Have you ever had something to say to someone that you knew would be good and helpful, but they refused to listen or hear you? That is the way Jesus pictures us. Hearing means an awareness of and confidence in Him. Faith in Christ and relationship with Him come as we listen.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 30, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell