“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” Hebrews 2:1
How many times have you been sitting at a table eating supper or maybe just sitting on the couch in your living room, when someone asked you, “Hey, anyone there? Did you hear what I just said?”
You might have been deep in thought, and while maybe you were aware that there was someone speaking, you didn’t actually hear what they were saying. The words didn’t “register” in your mind because you weren’t really paying attention.
Something similar used to happen to me when I read books. I would be reading a page, when I would start to think about something else. A minute later, my eyes will have moved several paragraphs down the page of the book, but I would not remember anything that was written, because I was thinking about something else.
Maybe you have heard the saying, “In one ear and out the other.” Meaning, someone can hear something, but immediately forget what was just spoken. They could be directly in front of you as you speak, but because their mind is “somewhere else” they didn’t retain anything you said.
This cannot happen when we gather ourselves together to learn from the Word of God. When we sit down to learn, we need to be attentive and alert. Our minds need to be present. We need to not only hear with our ears, but with our heart as well.
For the sake of another example, in the summertime we might have a long stretch of time with no rain, and the ground becomes very dry and dusty. Then a stray rain cloud might float by and drop some rain for a few minutes, and then go away and the sun comes back out again. Any moisture from the rain does not sink into the earth, but almost immediately evaporates as the sun dries it all away once again.
When we read or hear the Word of God, we need to pay close attention and let it sink into our hearts so that we remember it. We need to “give the more earnest heed,” and listen from our hearts.
Of course, being a true Christian is more than just hearing what is taught; we need to DO it.
“But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” Luke 11:28
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:22-25
Some people can sit in a pew every Sunday, they can read their Bible everyday, but unless they soak up the Word into their hearts, and do it, then all their religion is vain.
Don’t be like these people. The information found in the Holy Scriptures is the greatest thing that anyone can ever learn, because between the covers of the King James Bible lies the key to eternal life. If you want to use that key, you need to open up the ears of your heart and let those words of life sink in deep.
Are your ears open?
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 