Ears to hear...

Hi friends,

There's a lot in the Bible about hearing and listening. The Shema that the Israelites declare daily begins with "Hear O Israel..." and Proverbs is full of instructions to listen to wisdom and instruction. We find this continues in the New Testament, as Jesus uses a peculiar phrase quite often in the Gospels: "Whoever has ears to hear let them hear."

This might sound a little strange to us as it's not the kind of thing we go around saying. But if you think about it, not everyone who has ears actually hears. There are those who are fully or partially deaf, and those who have selective hearing and choose only to hear what they want to hear. And this applies to the listening that we are to do with our spirit too. Some people are spiritually deaf and cannot hear the words of God as coming from him. And there are some who have selective spiritual hearing - they only hear what they choose to hear. They are not open to hearing those things that challenge them or make them uncomfortable.

Jesus issues an invitation to those who have ears to hear, to hear/listen to his words. This requires both attention and humility. In the midst of our busy lives, we need to make time to slow down, to quiet ourselves, and to pay attention to the words of Jesus. We can't expect for him to blast his words through the noise of our lives with some sort of spiritual megaphone! On occasion, God does speak like that but it isn't the norm. And we need to listen with humility, because the words of Jesus are challenging. If we come to his words with an attitude of superiority or 'togetherness' we will likely be offended, or simply miss the truth of what he is saying. We all have ears, both physical and spiritual, and Jesus is calling us to use those ears to listen to his voice.

I used the new Watch Your Mouth set on this page, along with Peony Cluster, Chunky Lowercase Alpha, and Art Deco Alpha. The background was created with acrylic paints and I coloured with images in with coloured pencils.

Let's be people who use our spiritual ears to listen attentively to Jesus.

Be blessed...

x Amy x