"Selective Hearing"

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Matthew 11:15

Have you ever heard the term "selective hearing"? There are several men that I know who have selective hearing... if you don't believe me, just ask their wives. They have earned this title because they seem to hear only what they want to hear. Actually, men aren't the only ones who do that, they just seem to be better at it.

I wonder if we don't all have selective hearing when it comes to listening to God. We tend to pick and choose what we want to hear from Him and what we don't. We are "all ears" when He tells us good things and what we want to hear. We listen attentively when He speaks blessings and prosperity to us. But when He tells us something we don't want to hear, when His words tell us to deny ourselves or His answer to our question is either "no" or "wait", we stop listening.

Husbands may get away with selective hearing when it comes to listening to their wives. Wives may get away with it when it comes to listening to their husbands. We all may get away with it when it comes to listening to others, but when it comes to listening to God it won't work. It is always in our best interest, regardless of whether we want to hear what He is saying or not, to listen attentively to Him. Listening to all He has to say is imperative to our spiritual well being, to our relationship with Him and our very life.

We may pick and choose who we want and don't want to listen to, we may pick and choose what we want and don't want to hear, but when it comes to listening to the Lord, we really don't have a choice.. we must hear what He says.

Have a great day. We cannot afford to have selective hearing when it comes to hearing what the Lord is saying.

For further reading:
Exodus 15:26
Proverbs 4:20
Jeremiah 17:23
1 Corinthians 14:21