Faith Words: Pay Attention!

Do you remember playing the gossip game when you were a child?  Someone started the game by whispering a message in the ear of the person next to her.  Then, she'd whisper the same message in the ear of the person next to her.  And so on around the circle till everyone had heard the message.  The last person would speak the message out loud and everyone would burst out laughing because it was almost always a completely different message from the original one first whispered.

Maybe, like me, you've gone through the drive-thru lane of a fast food restaurant recently.  You shout out your order to the unseen person inside over some kind of loud speaker. (Funny, how we think the louder we speak, the better we're understood!)  When you get your order at the window, do you check it to make sure it's correct?  I do because if I don't, I'm frequently frustrated to find that my order, given loud and clear, is wrong!

Ever been on a trip and gotten off course?  Have a map? Use the GPS?  Ask for directions?  And still got lost, huh? Missed that turn, didn't see that sign, didn't get in the correct lane in time? Forgot to use a turn signal when changing lanes?  Didn't see that car in the next lane?  Didn't realize that when the sign says "Reduced Speed Ahead," it actually means start slowing down?  School zone?  Don't text and drive?  How do we ever arrive safely anywhere? We don't pay attention.

It's so important to listen and make sure we're hearing what the speaker is telling us, isn't it?  Communication should be clearly understood to qualify as communication. But so often, we hear what we think was spoken rather than what was actually spoken.  We only half listen or get distracted by something else going on and don't fully hear what was said. We sometimes make up our minds before the words are completely out what the speaker intended to say to us.  We don't pay attention.

How many times over my life have I only half listened to what God is trying to say to me?  Do I get distracted easily when He's speaking and not hear His words?  Do I ever twist His words to make them say what I want them to say?  Do I stop listening before He's through speaking to me?  Why don't I pay attention?

It's little wonder there are so many opinions and divisions in Christianity.  We have God's word right in front of us and then we decide what He's saying to us.  We might read His word precisely and completely but don't remember a thing He said as soon as we put our Bibles down.  We might go to Bible class or listen to a sermon with so many other things on our minds that we couldn't summarize the lesson if our lives depended on it.  We might search the Scriptures diligently trying to find support for our own position, even if it means taking those precious words out of context.  We might start reading and decide those particular words don't apply to us or are boring, so we skip over them to some other passage we like better and perhaps miss something special God wanted us to hear.  We don't pay attention.

Oh, that I would value God's word as much as I do my own! Oh, that I would love to hear Him speak to me as much as I love the sound of my own voice!  Oh, that I would understand that He sees the big picture and understands what's best for me better than I do!  Oh, that I would pay attention to His word!

It's important, dear ones, to pay attention to the word of God and stay true to the course that His word lays out for us. We're not as smart as we think we are.  We don't listen as well as we think we do.  We need to pay attention!

That goes for me, too!

Patrice

Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.