There are a lot of people who like to watch television preachers and will sit for hours at a time listening to their messages. There is nothing wrong with that. But that leads me to a question-- are you only listening to them or are you hearing what they are saying?
There is a difference in listening and hearing. We can listen to music but not hear the words. We can listen to our parents give us instructions and never hear a word they say-- teenagers do this all the time. We have churches every Sunday full of "listeners" but no real "hearers". They will listen to the preacher preach the message. But they didn't really hear what was being said. Had they heard what was said, they would be applying it to their lives-- they would be doing it.
We don't go to church to fulfill some religious duty. We don't go just because it is a tradition. We don't go because we want to impress someone. We don't go to make the preacher happy, or mom happy or someone else happy. We go to hear what "thus saith the Lord". We go to hear from God. We go in order to be encouraged in our walk with the Lord by being with other believers. And we go to gain something that will help us and better equip us to be of service out in the world for the kingdom of God, to help us be more Christ like, and to help us draw near to God.
James writes it this way... if any hears the preached word, but doesn't apply it to their lives, they are like a person who looks at themselves in the mirror, but after they get away from the mirror they forget what they saw. Does that describe you? Do you listen to television preachers but not really hear what they are saying? Do you sit in church week after week, but once you leave the doors you forget about what was said and you do what you want to do instead of doing what you just heard? If that is the case, then all you did was listen with your ears but didn't hear it with your heart.
Have a great day. Are you a listener who forgets what they heard? Or a hearer who does what they heard?
For further reading:
James 1:22-25
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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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