Listening to Hear
I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about the difference between listening and hearing. They’re not the same. According to Psychology Today, listening is an internal behavior that involves both the mind and body, whereas hearing is a physical activity that only involves the ears. Similarly, Kelly Workman, PsyD from Columbia University says that hearing is the passive intake of sound, while listening is the act of intentionally working to comprehend the sounds. Anyone who has tried to have a conversation with a spouse or a child who is attending to their phone or television understands the difference. So What?
Matthew 17 sparked the reflection. Jesus took three of His disciples up a high mountain and revealed His Glory to them. Part of the interaction included the voice of God declaring His pleasure in His Son Jesus and instructing them to LISTEN to Him. For the first time in my life, I considered the difference between listening and hearing.
Here’s what I know. There is a kind of hearing that causes what was dead to live (John 5:25). And when that kind of hearing is united with faith in the hearer, the hearer gets to live, partaking of the divine nature of God, walking in the abundance of the precious and extravagant promises He gave to them (Hebrew 4, and 2 Peter 1). I don’t want to miss a thing, so I want to be more than a passive hearer. I want to be an intentional listener. It’s kind of a no-brainer. You with me?
So, the question becomes, How do we listen intently? I propose that step 1 is Prioritizing our first love. Huh? Let me explain. Have you ever been in a crowded room and in a conversation with someone that you should be listening to, but there’s another conversation nearby that you are really wanting to hear? When that happens to me, I usually hear nothing of the conversation I’m in, and less than I’d like of the conversation I’m eavesdropping on. And unless the person I’m in conversation is completely socially unaware, they’ll probably quit talking and walk away offended at my rude behavior. In Hebrews 5 Paul states why it is hard for us to be taught. He calls us “dull of hearing” which really means we aren’t willing to listen. It’s fundamental. The first commandment tells us to Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. If there are other loves that are a greater priority to us than Him, than it’s going to be hard for us to listen to the conversation we should be listening to for all the eavesdropping we are doing elsewhere. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and Find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Listening Intently starts with Loving the Lord first and foremost with everything within us.
Then what? Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness and All these things will be added unto you.” And Paul explains in Hebrews 5 that maturity comes through the practice of training our senses to discern good and evil. That word for senses in the greek is “aistheterion”. It means organ of perception. So we could restate that to say, maturity comes through the practice of training our perceptions to discern good and evil. It’s a unique and personal journey that shouldn’t be limited or defined by the experiences of another. Each of us was made in the image of God with giftedness and personality traits that enable us to interact distinctively with our creator. Examine the scriptures to see the unique and personal ways that God interacted with his people, and expect Him to interact uniquely with you. And be ready to unite your hearing with active, obedient faith. Living the abundant life He paid for depends on it.
