But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.     James 1:22 ESV

There is a big difference between hearing and listening. I can hear noises, but I listen to important words. Of course, the term “important words” is a relative term. What may be important to me may not be important to you and vice versa. But I have the ability to tune out things I don’t deem relevant or important.

Just the other day, my husband and I were in a group, and someone said something. As soon as this person began to speak, I deemed it irrelevant and tuned it out. My husband asked me what this person had said and then immediately smiled and said, “You tuned that out didn’t you?”

Now I know this sounds bad, but honestly there are just so many things in this world that are irrelevant today. I believe the most urgent thing that should be on all our minds is getting to heaven.  So, I want to hear about how to do that and I pay close attention.

If I hear about how to get to heaven, however, and don’t do as I am told I just wasted my time. I deceive myself into thinking that I can get there some other way.  James clearly tells us we must be doers of the word and not only hearers of the word.

We are told in John 14:6 that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus is the only way to get into heaven with God the Father. If we don’t accept Jesus as our Savior, we can’t get there. We deceive ourselves if we think we can get there through church attendance or being kind to others or anything else. We can only get there through Jesus Christ.

Now I can honestly say that if we truly accept Christ as our Savior, we will want to go to church and be kind to others and serve Him and others. It all starts, however, with accepting Him and His work on the cross to save us from our sins.

You can hear the ten commandments, you can hear what God considers to be an abomination, but if you don’t do and refrain from doing the things he tells you to do and not do, what does it matter?

We hear a lot of stuff as we go through each day that truly doesn’t matter. A lot of it is just “Blah, blah, blah” and in all honesty if we tune it out it really doesn’t matter. But the word of God matters more than anything we will ever read or hear.

If you want to have a serious relationship with someone you not only hear what they say but you listen, right? Well, only a serious relationship with Jesus Christ gets us to heaven. We need to study His word so we can read and hear what He says to us. We need to listen to His word being taught through sermons and Bible studies. And we need to respond to His word to show we are listening.

We respond by doing what He commands us to do. We respond by prayer to let Him know we are listening.

My prayer for you today is that you have the ability to tune out all the bad stuff in this world and focus on Him. Listen to all God has to say through His Holy Word. Don’t just read your Bible, study your Bible. Join a good Bible teaching church and attend Sunday school and sermons to learn more about the love of Christ.

Hear Him, listen to Him and obey His commands.  You won’t regret it.

Have a great day!