Situations
we go through changes our ability to hear, or they might simply change who we
chose to listen to. Through the years my
perspective has made a huge difference on how I hear, when I listen and who I
listen to.
Let me
give you an example. You might have had
this same experience. When I was very
young my dad was the smartest man alive, yet as I became a teenager I listened
less to my dad because it was my thought that I knew more than he did. Now that I am a few years past being a teen
(a few decades, maybe) my dad is once again one of the smartest men in the
world.
Who
are you listening to? Who helps you make
decisions or sways the decisions that you are making?
Matthew
5:17-19 NLT
Don’t
misunderstand why I have come. I did not
come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to
accomplish their purpose. 18 I tell you the truth, until
heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will
disappear until its purpose is achieved. 19 So
if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will
be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches
them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Within
those three verses are nuggets of truth not easy to understand. For many Christians or church goers the law
is more important than the grace of God.
From another perspective it is more important to look right than to be
right. That couldn’t be further from the
truth.
Obeying
God is not about keeping the law.
Obeying God is about doing all in my powerful to get closer to God. The voices we listen shape the way we hear
and follow God.
Maybe
you are listening to the wrong people or to the wrong thinking. Change who you are listening to. One of the ways I stay fresh and listen well
is to go to the people who seem to be on the edge. Here are some quotes from a man who is
leading people around our world. He is
not a preacher and not an elected politician.
He is a singer, and his name is Bono, lead singer of the group U2.
Read. Apply.
Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis,
has left the building.
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to
steal. If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel.
Even though I'm a believer, I still
find it really hard to be around other believers. They make me nervous, they
make me twitch. I sorta watch my back.
Perspective is the cure for depression.
At a certain point, I just felt, you
know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.
The true life of a believer is one of a longer, more hazardous
or uphill pilgrimage, and where you uncover slowly the sort of illumination for
your next step.
Stop asking God to bless what you're
doing. Find out what God's doing. It's already blessed.
Sometimes religion gets in the way of
God.
God is in the slums, in the cardboard
boxes where the poor play house. God is
in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will
end both their lives. God is in the
cries heard under the rubble of war. God
is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are
with them.
No,
Bono is not a teacher of theology or of philosophy. Yet he reads the culture well and hears the
voice of God. The perspective that I
find in what this man shares makes me want to make a difference in the world
around me.
Who ya
listening to?
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